Certainty and Ambiguity in Global Mystery Fiction: Essays on the Moral Imagination

(Hardback)

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Mystery fiction as a genre renders moral judgments not only about detectives and criminals but also concerning the cultural structures within which these mysteries unfold. In contrast to other volumes which examine morality in crime fiction through the lenses of personal guilt and personal justice, Certainty and Ambiguity in Global Mystery Fiction draws together threads that are often treated separately: personal guilt and social guilt. In recent years, public awareness has attended to the relationship between social structures and justice, and this collection centers on how personal ethics and social ethics are bound together amidst the shifting moral landscapes of mystery fiction. Contributors discuss the interplay between personal guilt and social guilt considering morality and justice on an individual level and at a societal level using frameworks of certainty and ambiguity. They show how individual characters in works by Agatha Christie, Gabriel Garca Mrquez, Natsuo Kirino, F.H. Batacan, and Stephen King, among others, may view their moral standing with certainty but clash with the established mores of their culture. Featuring essays on Japanese, Filipino, Indian, and Colombian mystery fiction, as well as American and British fiction, this volume analyzes social guilt and justice across cultures, showing how individuals grapple with the certainty, and, at times, the moral ambiguity, of their respective cultures.

Author Bio

John J. Han is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Missouri Baptist University, USA, where he teaches world literature, creative writing, and mystery fiction, among others. C. Clark Triplett is Emeritus Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor of Psychology at Missouri Baptist University, USA. Matthew R. Bardowell is Associate Professor of English at Missouri Baptist University, USA, where he teaches British literature, world literature, and composition.