Women Detective Novels

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Women Detective Novels Research Paper The role of women in detective novels has undergone many changes since the earliest renditions. During the 1930s women were not utilized in a major role in this form of literature. Women now seem to be more self-assured, independent, and assertive. The development of the female detective, private investigator, whether amateur or professional has developed from the most innovative, intuitive, and intelligent women detectives to the most toughest hard-boiled women detectives. The changing position of women in this genre has arrived at complete gender equality. Rosenblum Joseph, Salem Press, “Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction” web. January 2008 Joseph Rosenblum is an English professor at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro College. In 1990, he won second prize in the Oxford University Press English Detective Fiction contest with a story about a thief who leaves Shakespearean quotations in lieu of the objects he steals. He is one of the many contributors who wrote fine essays in 100 Masters of Mystery and Detective Fiction in response to the growing attention to genre fiction in schools and universities. This article was written for the general public. The article discusses male and female authors of many different mystery detective novels depicts female protagonists who play detective roles. Rosenblum talks about how literary critics tend to regard detective fiction as a genre supportive of patriarchy, even when women wrote that type of fiction. They speak about how authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Marcia Muller were able to develop female detection and how it’s evolved from the late 1800s up to modern day. Rosenblum also speaks of different topics such as marriage vs. careers, solitary sleuths, and hard-boiled women detectives. He says that it is common to see women having to
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