Many contemporary crime novels subvert the traditional crime-detection-solution formula, while employing some typical codes of the genre as a pretext for confronting socio-cultural issues that go beyond the mere unravelling of a clue-puzzle mystery. These novels are concerned with the epistemological side rather than the outcome of detection, so that the achievement of a solution becomes secondary, at least on the part of the traditional sleuth. In fact, another type of detective is asked to look for clues to the textual conundrums: the reader himself or herself, experiencing disorientation and unease in front of the enigmas which neither the characters nor the narrator/s are able to solve. Such is the predicament of the readers of Emma Tennant’s The Bad Sister (1978), a “hypertext”, or second-degree narrative based on James Hogg’s masterpiece The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), which Tennant rewrites from a sui generis feminist perspective. Like its model, The Bad Sister is informed by multiperspectivism and open-endedness, baffling the reader who attempts to grasp and unveil the elusive truth. Resistance to closure and a narrative instability thwarting any univocal interpretation are part of Hogg’s legacy in contemporary Scottish fiction, as is also testified by the works of such dissimilar novelists as Ian Rankin and James Robertson, both deeply and recognizably indebted to their predecessor. KEYWORDS: Scottish fiction, James Hogg, postmodernism, feminism, hypertext, psychothriller, narrative, hermeneutics, identity, truth, uncanny, the double

Postmodern Psychothrillers: Emma Tennant Rewrites James Hogg's "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" / Angeletti, Gioia. - STAMPA. - (2015), pp. 221-239.

Postmodern Psychothrillers: Emma Tennant Rewrites James Hogg's "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner"

ANGELETTI, Gioia
2015-01-01

Abstract

Many contemporary crime novels subvert the traditional crime-detection-solution formula, while employing some typical codes of the genre as a pretext for confronting socio-cultural issues that go beyond the mere unravelling of a clue-puzzle mystery. These novels are concerned with the epistemological side rather than the outcome of detection, so that the achievement of a solution becomes secondary, at least on the part of the traditional sleuth. In fact, another type of detective is asked to look for clues to the textual conundrums: the reader himself or herself, experiencing disorientation and unease in front of the enigmas which neither the characters nor the narrator/s are able to solve. Such is the predicament of the readers of Emma Tennant’s The Bad Sister (1978), a “hypertext”, or second-degree narrative based on James Hogg’s masterpiece The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), which Tennant rewrites from a sui generis feminist perspective. Like its model, The Bad Sister is informed by multiperspectivism and open-endedness, baffling the reader who attempts to grasp and unveil the elusive truth. Resistance to closure and a narrative instability thwarting any univocal interpretation are part of Hogg’s legacy in contemporary Scottish fiction, as is also testified by the works of such dissimilar novelists as Ian Rankin and James Robertson, both deeply and recognizably indebted to their predecessor. KEYWORDS: Scottish fiction, James Hogg, postmodernism, feminism, hypertext, psychothriller, narrative, hermeneutics, identity, truth, uncanny, the double
2015
9783868215571
Postmodern Psychothrillers: Emma Tennant Rewrites James Hogg's "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" / Angeletti, Gioia. - STAMPA. - (2015), pp. 221-239.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11381/2628459
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