Whodunit? And How Do We Know? (or Do We?): The Structure of the Epistemological Investigation in Detective Fiction

Abstract

This chapter is the first of two chapters which demonstrate how literary postmodernism is developed practically, concentrating on the genre of fiction. With a focus on epistemology, questions of knowledge, this chapter looks at the history of detective fiction to demonstrate how postmodern forms of detective fiction fit within the genre. Consequently, the chapter argues that it is possible to have postmodern fiction with an epistemological dominant; thus, such a dominant cannot function as a definition of literary postmodernism. This is done through looking at canonical examples of classical, modernist, late modernist, and postmodernist detective fiction, and how those stories function structurally. It also demonstrates that chronology is not a sufficient means to present the history of detective fiction, as structural elements are also at play.