ORIENTALIST DEPICTIONS IN ENGLISH DETECTIVE AND CRIME FICTION OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Keywords:
Orientalism, detective fiction, crime fiction, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Sax Rohmer, early 20th century, colonialism, English literatureAbstract
This thesis explores the use of Orientalist depictions in early 20th-century English detective and crime fiction, focusing on prominent works by authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Sax Rohmer. The genre’s fascination with the "exotic East" often reflected colonial anxieties and racial stereotypes. Through analysis of key texts, this article illustrates how Orientalist themes were utilized to create villains, exotic settings, and mysterious crimes, reinforcing Western notions of superiority over Eastern cultures. Despite being presented as mere narrative devices, these representations played a significant role in shaping Western perceptions of the East during the colonial era.
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References
Christie, Agatha. Death on the Nile. William Collins, 1937.
Christie, Agatha. Murder in Mesopotamia. William Collins, 1936.
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Sign of the Four. Spencer Blackett, 1890.
Rohmer, Sax. The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu. Methuen & Co., 1913.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. Pantheon Books, 1978.
Mighall, Robert. A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction: Mapping History's Nightmares. Oxford University Press, 1999.
Moretti, Franco. Signs Taken for Wonders: On the Sociology of Literary Forms. Verso, 1983.
Teo, Hsu-Ming. Cultural History of Crime in the British Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
