04489nam 22006495 450 991072894620332120230810181618.09783031298493(electronic bk.)978303129848610.1007/978-3-031-29849-3(MiAaPQ)EBC30558435(Au-PeEL)EBL30558435(OCoLC)1381093342(DE-He213)978-3-031-29849-3(BIP)089067219(CKB)26816395800041(EXLCZ)992681639580004120230531d2023 u| 0engurcnu||||||||txtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierOcular Proof and the Spectacled Detective in British Crime Fiction /by Lisa Hopkins1st ed. 2023.Cham :Springer Nature Switzerland :Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan,2023.1 online resource (194 pages)Crime Files,2947-8359Print version: Hopkins, Lisa Ocular Proof and the Spectacled Detective in British Crime Fiction Cham : Springer International Publishing AG,c2023 9783031298486 Part I: Through a Glass Darkly -- Chapter 1: Introduction: What the Spectacled Detective Sees -- Chapter 2: Out of Focus: Ariadne Oliver -- Part II: Seeing the Unseen -- Chapter 3: Scouting Skills: Max Carrados, Sherlock Holmes’ Blind Rival -- Chapter 4: An Unseen Hook and an Invisible Line: Father Brown -- Part III: Seeing Through Glass -- Chapter 5: The Man with the Monocle: Lord Peter Wimsey -- Chapter 6: An Ass in Horn-Rims: Albert Campion -- Part IV: Binocular Vision -- Chapter 7: Seeing Double: Inspector Alleyn -- Chapter 8: The Double Vision of Dornford Yates -- Chapter 9: Conclusion.From Sherlock Holmes onwards, fictional detectives use lenses: Ocular Proof and the Spectacled Detective in British Crime Fiction argues that these visual aids are metaphors for ways of seeing, and that they help us to understand not only individual detectives’ methods but also the kinds of cultural work detective fiction may do. It is sometimes regarded as a socially conservative form, and certainly the enduring popularity of ‘Golden Age’ writers such as Christie, Sayers, Allingham and Marsh implies a strong element of nostalgia in the appeal of the genre. The emphasis on visual aids, however, suggests that solving crime is not a simple matter of uncovering truth but a complex, sophisticated and inherently subjective process, and thus challenges any sense of comforting certainties. Moreover, the value of eye-witness testimony is often troubled in detective fiction by use of the phrase ‘the ocular proof’, whose origin in Shakespeare’s Othello reminds us that Othello is manipulated by Iago into misinterpreting what he sees. The act of seeing thus comes to seem ideological and provisional, and Lisa Hopkins argues that the kind of visual aid selected by each detective is an index of his particular propensities and biases. Lisa Hopkins is Professor Emerita of English at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. She has published widely on Renaissance drama (particularly Shakespeare, Marlowe and Ford), adaptation studies, and more recently crime fiction. She is co-editor of Shakespeare, the journal of the British Shakespeare Association, and of the Arden Guides to Early Modern Drama. Her previous books include Shakespearean Allusion in Crime Fiction: DCI Shakespeare (Palgrave, 2016) and Burial Plots in British Detective Fiction (Palgrave, 2021).Crime Files,2947-8359Literature, Modern20th centuryFictionPopular CultureMass media and crimeTwentieth-Century LiteratureFiction LiteraturePopular CultureCrime and the MediaEnglish LiteratureLiterature, Modern20th century.Fiction.Popular Culture.Mass media and crime.Twentieth-Century Literature.Fiction Literature.Popular Culture.Crime and the Media.823.087209Hopkins Lisa518401MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQ9910728946203321Ocular Proof and the Spectacled Detective in British Crime Fiction3384438UNINA