Why the human imagination is drawn to the transgressive act of crime
In short: From 18th-century autobiographies to modern psychological thrillers, why do we find criminal narratives so irresistible? This lecture explores the literary evolution of the outlaw and the specific aesthetic pleasures of exploring the 'taint of crime'.
John Mullan examines the literary lineage of crime, beginning with the 18th-century work Moll Flanders. He explores how novelists like Charles Dickens used crime to immerse readers in moral complexity, specifically highlighting how characters in Great Expectations encounter the 'taint of crime'.
The lecture also traces a return to the transgressive pleasures found in Daniel Defoe's criminal autobiographies, identifying a lineage that connects historical texts to contemporary genre fiction by authors such as Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Crime in Fiction
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