Figures of the detective in contemporary american detective fiction
type: Dataset
description: Contemporary American detective fiction both echoes and breaks with the 1930s-1950s golden age by taking over the codes and myths of hard-boiled and classic English detective fiction and exposing them to our contemporary world. The 1930s city, in which the detective used to investigate methodically towards the key to the mystery, contrasts with the contemporary urban sphere - here New York and more specifically Brooklyn - within which the initial enigma lingers without proper closure. Traditional investigation methods are no longer in use, leaving room to uncertainty and doubt; the story is no longer about a hero's triumph against Evil in an urban setting, but about the efforts of a detective lost in his own fragmentation. Thus, focalisation is not on the outcome of the investigation any more, but rather on the inner quest of a detective who, even before searching for clues to solve the case, is first and foremost searching for his own self. Avant-garde detective fiction in all its forms, and especially comic books and novels, deprives the detective of his iconic status and oneness to turn him into myriad figures which serve as pretext to propose a new definition of the well-known codes of the genre and the metaphysical exploration of our times.
issued: 2026-05-05T23:39:37.277034
language: fr
modified: 2026-05-05T23:39:37.277038
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: americain
keyword: american
keyword: auster
keyword: bande-dessinee
keyword: boiled
keyword: brooklyn
keyword: charyn
keyword: city
keyword: comics
keyword: contemporain
keyword: contemporary
keyword: detective
keyword: detective-fiction
keyword: enquete
keyword: figures
keyword: graphic-novel
keyword: hard
keyword: identite
keyword: identity
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsdoctoralthesis
keyword: investigation
keyword: lethem
keyword: literature
keyword: litterature
keyword: metaphysical
keyword: metaphysique
keyword: new-york
keyword: polar
keyword: roman-graphique
keyword: shslitthumanities-and-social-sciencesliterature
keyword: theses
keyword: urbain
keyword: urban
keyword: ville
landing page: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00961471

Figures of the detective in contemporary american detective fiction
type: Distribution
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-05T23:39:37.285063
modified: 2026-05-05T23:39:37.218938
access URL: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00961471

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent