The rural social divide in Edwardian detective fiction

Vol.51,No.2(2025)

Paul Melia

https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2025-2-6

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.83804

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Abstract
When the Victorian era became the twentieth century, a process of transformation was evident in the popular genre of detective fiction, especially in the depiction of different social classes. Essentially, one view is of the upper classes and their lifestyle as a prerequisite for the preservation of what was most valuable in Britain, while the rest of the population, lesser in various ways, show the deference due to their betters. In contrast, other writers, to a greater or lesser extent, portray the aristocracy and landed gentry as corrupted and their less fortunate neighbours as victims. For all the writers, their stories set in the countryside present a world where alternative paradigms and social mobility are unreal expectations. Although these aspects are of considerable relevance to an understanding of the era, from my reading, critics routinely choose either to barely acknowledge or wholly ignore depictions of social class in crime fiction from this era, accepted as so natural an aspect it is unworthy of analysis.

Keywords:
social class; dichotomy; submissiveness; entitlement; village; infallible detective

Pages:
111–131
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