Golden age-TMORA

Question 1

what years was the golden age focused around?

Answer 1

1914-1945 (20th century)

Question 2

when was ‘tmora’ published?

Answer 2

1926 June

Question 3

what was the golden age focused around

Answer 3

• puzzle plot formula

- detective alienated from created world

Question 4

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

1st rule

Answer 4

The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.

Question 5

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

2nd rule

Answer 5

All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

Question 6

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

3rd rule

Answer 6

Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable

Question 7

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

4th rule

Answer 7

No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.

Question 8

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

5th rule

Answer 8

No Chinaman must figure in the story.

Question 9

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

6th rule

Answer 9

No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

Question 10

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

7th rule

Answer 10

The detective must not himself commit the crime.

Question 11

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

8th rule

Answer 11

The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.

Question 12

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

9th rule

Answer 12

The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

Question 13

Ronald Knox: 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

10th rule

Answer 13

Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

Question 14

why does crime writing appeal to readers?

Answer 14

• capacity to thrill and excite
• offer the consolation of seeing the villain unmasked and virtue rewarded
• indulge in guilty pleasures
• sort of puzzle’ “who done it”

Question 15

features of the golden age

Answer 15

• mostly British authors/some Americans
• plot puzzle formula
• typically surrender narrative freedom to a sequence of questions, mysteries, clues and potential solutions
• more like a quiz/game
• red herrings
• murder of manners
• lack of gruesome details
• focus on clues and suspects
• structural patterning
• double structure-concealment from reader
• move from urban to rural/enclosed settings

Question 16

key authors from the period

Answer 16

• GK Chesterton
• Father Brown’s stories
• Agatha Christie
• Dorothy L sayer

Question 17

golden age and crime fiction-

Answer 17

-predominantly in 1920-30s
-similar patterns and styles
-response to Victorian period and WW1
-several authors excelled at misleading their readers
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Question 18

Ronald Knox Quote

Answer 18

a detective story must have as it’s main interest the unraveling of a mystery; a mystery whose elements are clearly presented to the reader at an early stage in the proceedings; and whose nature is such as to arouse curiosity, a curiosity which is gratified at the end