Publication Date
2008
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
James Guthrie (Committee Chair), Carol Loranger (Committee Member), Annette Oxindine (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
As closed narratives, locked-room mysteries risk the sense of interpretive play for which the larger detective genre is known. To mitigate this risk, writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Gaston Leroux, and Agatha Christie incorporate embedded texts into their locked-room stories. These recreated documents encourage readers' involvement by eliciting culturally specific interpretive reactions. Studying how these authors' embedded texts simultaneously innovate and conserve within the locked-room subgenre brings critics closer to understanding exactly how the detective story earned its reputation as one of the most engaging forms of fiction.
Page Count
62
Department or Program
Department of English Language and Literatures
Year Degree Awarded
2008
Copyright
Copyright 2008, all rights reserved. This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.
