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Informed by fourth-wave feminism, Crime Fiction in the Age of #MeToo presents a compelling and timely reading of crime fiction in the age of #MeToo. The book explores five major fourth-wave feminist topics, #MeToo, rape culture, toxic masculinity, LBGTQ+ perspectives, and transgender. These topics have been the subject of intense feminist scrutiny and campaigning, and the book demonstrates how this attention is reflected in contemporary crime fiction and its generic and thematic preoccupations. The book opens with a chapter presenting an overview of existing critical perspectives and feminist debates, demonstrating how fourth-wave feminist ideas and debates are inspiring innovations in the genre, as well as generating fresh ways of reading past and present crime fictions. Providing an overview and context for both fourth-wave feminism and the #MeToo movement, the chapter establishes the critical and cultural framework for its analysis. The chapter also outlines the book’s methodology and approach, detailing the contents of the chapters. Each of the five subsequent chapters uses critical vocabulary and concepts from feminism and the #MeToo movement to reassess canonical works and present new readings of contemporary crime fiction, producing compelling analyses of gender and genre. Canonical authors whose works are discussed include Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Josephine Tey, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, and Val McDermid. Examining selected contemporary novels and short stories, the chapters in Crime Fiction in the Age of #MeToo provide fresh readings of both well-known and lesser-known crime authors. The contemporary authors whose work is examined are Lauren Henderson, Susan White, Jennifer Haigh, Allison Leotta, Y.A. Erskine, Heather Fitt, John Harvey, Dorothy Koomson, Pekka Hiltunen, Nekesa Afia, Michael Nava, Stella Duffy, Alex Reeve, V.T. Davy, and Dharma Kelleher.
Through its critical examination of crime fiction, Crime Fiction in the Age of #MeToo offers a powerful feminist analysis of the genre which draws links between literature and ongoing urgent social and cultural debates such as the #Metoo movement and fourth-wave feminism.
“Comprehensive and smart, a welcomed gem in crime fiction and feminist cultural studies! Interrogating the genre through the double lens of fourth-wave feminism and the #MeToo movement, this book is indispensable for scholars and anybody interested in contemporary crime fiction as it offers original perspectives, indeed opening up new directions for scholarship on crime writing.” —Carolina Miranda, Adjunct Research Fellow, Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand .
Chapter 1: Reading Crime Fiction Through Fourth-Wave Feminism and #MeToo; Chapter 2: #MeToo in Josephine Tey’s The Franchise Affair, Lauren Henderson’s “MeToo,” Susan White’s Cut, and Jennifer Haigh’s Mercy Street; Chapter 3: Rape Culture in Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö’s Roseanna, Allison Leotta’s The Last Good Girl, Y. A. Erskine’s The Betrayal, and Heather Fitt’s Open Your Eyes; Chapter 4: Toxic Masculinity in Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery, John Harvey’s “Yesterdays,” Dorothy Koomson’s The Brighton Mermaid, and Pekka Hiltunen’s “Jenkem”; Chapter 5: LGBTQ+ Representation in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, Nekesa Afia’s Dead Dead Girls, Michael Nava’s Lies With Man, and Stella Duffy’s Fresh Flesh; Chapter 6: Transgender in Val McDermid’s The Mermaids Singing, Alex Reeve’s The House on Half Moon Street, V. T. Davy’s Black Art, and Dharma Kelleher’s TERF Wars; Conclusion: #MeToo and Crime Fiction