Golden Era

Question 1

Time Period

Answer 1

Written during the 1920s and 1930s

Question 2

Style and Structure

Answer 2

• Classic whodunit
  -Plots resolves around a murder and solving a mystery
• Formal structure with a clear beginning and end

Question 3

Setting

Answer 3

1. Relatively stable, orderly world, often featuring upper class or middle class enviroments.
2. Settings can country houses, private clubs or urban locations
3. usually maintain a sense of decorum

Question 4

Detectives

Answer 4

1. Features amatuer sleuths or pro detectives who use logic and deduction to solve the crime.
2. They are intelligent , methodical, sophistcated and moral.

Question 5

Criminals

Answer 5

• more sophistcated criminals
• villians were cunning and articulate : least likely and sly and sophistcated
• Motives were often rooted in personal gain or revenge rather than pure malice
• saw the rise of “gentleman thief” : criminal has a certain charm and sophistcation.

Question 6

Victims

Answer 6

• Victims often fit into recognizable archetypes: wealthy socialities or troubled indviduals
• Make their murder the centeral mystery, but their personal backstories and motivations are secondary.

Question 7

Female Charecters

Answer 7

• Women began to be depicted as more dependent and assertive
• Miss Marple in Agatha Christie is an elderly amatuer detective with a sharp mind and keen obervational skills
• a feminist who holds her own in a male-dominated world
• Womrn still often appeared as victims, suspects ( woman being capable of evil) and love intrests , reinforcing the era’s prevaling gender norms.

Question 8

Themes

Answer 8

• Emphasis on the puzzle itself with a focus on fair play where the reader has all the clues needed to solve the mystery before the detective reveals the solution
• offers critique or satire of the upper class or societal norms
• reveal underlying social tension and hypocracies

Question 9

Context

Answer 9

• After WW1 there was a desire for escapism and a return for order.
• Offered a structured world with clear distinctions between good and evil.
• Economic harship of the interwar period contrasted to the glamouros settings of Golden Age crime fiction
• Telephones and cars allowed for more complex and intricate plots.

Question 10

Famous texts

Answer 10

1. And then there were none : Agatha Christie
2. The Murder of Roger Ackyord : Agatha Christie
3. Gaudy Night : Dorothy L. Sayers.

Question 11

Agatha Christie - ABC murders

1. Who dunnit tropes
2. Stars with murder and drives the remaining plot of the novel
3. Criminals has sophistication/intelligence
4. Detectives use logical deduction

Answer 11

1. Subverted in that Atkinson focuses on the emotional impact of crime rather then identifying themselves. Blurs the lines between the diffrent charecter tropes.
2. Atkinson does begin her novel with a crime, however its not that crime that really drives the plot.
3. The murders are done in blind rage and violence. Criminals lack intelligence and are easily caught. The crimes are not glorified.
4. Reggie emulates these skills, but it could be subverted with Jackson as he lacks this skill