What is the nature of the evil the detective must fight or the type of villain he or she is up against?

Choose a piece of detective fiction by a more or less contemporary author and write
a paper that describes, analyzes, and explains the ways the author uses the conventions of
detective fiction in the work you have chosen. Some things you might need to consider are
the character of the detective him or herself. That is, what sort of detective is he/she, a
classical type of the “old school” or a hard-boiled variety? What are the detective’s major
personal traits? How does he or she solve the crime? Does the detective ever use violence
in his or her investigation? What sort of world does the detective inhabit? Does he or she
have a partner? What sort of person is this? What role does the partner play in the solution
of the mystery? What is the nature of the evil the detective must fight or the type of villain
he or she is up against? Does the detective win in the struggle against “evil”? What is the
nature of the detective’s relations with the police and/or the official power structure in his
or her world? What role do women play in the detective’s world? Who are some of the
“secondary” characters in the novel and what roles do they play? What role does
technology play in the solving of the crime? What are some of the major themes presented
by and in the novel?
These are some of the aspects of the novel you might want to consider. You will
probably not be able to talk about all of them, but choose those aspects of the work that
seem most prominent and central to the overall effect of the fiction.
The paper should be 8-12 pages long. Quote from the novel extensively and use
either MLA or APA style to handle the quotations in the text and to provide the source
texts at the end of the paper.
Choose a novel or several short stories by an author we have not read in
class and write a paper that demonstrates how and why this author alters some of the
conventions of detective fiction in his work. Concentrate especially on the way changing
cultural values, trends, styles, etc., influence the adaptations and changes the author makes in
the conventions of the genre. Also note any of the ways the author attempts to subvert or
undermine the dominant culture’s perspective. You must consult and use at least 6-8 outside sources including primary text, at least 4 academic sources (scholarly journal, monograph, or edited collection), and you should use APA format for your citations and Works Cited page.

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