<p>In this
master’s thesis, I write about different representations of crime and criminal
literature in the German-speaking world of the 19th century, a genre that was
mainly attributed to an entertainment function at the time, but which
nevertheless, as I shall show, allows insights into social ills and problematic
characters in context. Here, there are interesting developments from late Romanticism
or Biedermeier to Realism or even to the roots of Expressionism. Guilt and
punishment are regarded as primary moments for this genre. In my master’s
thesis, I would like to try to show that not enough attention has been paid to
this genre by literary studies, but also by law. I will look into the question
of where the tension of this genre lies in the aforementioned environment, and
I will point out why this was the case and what this literature has lacked in
detail.</p>
<p>In the first chapter, I start with
the beginnings and their historical development, covering a period from the
beginning to almost the end of the 19th century and divide its differentiations
into phases. My observations are
based on Jorg Schönert’s “historical sketch” (ca. 1770 – 1920) (Schönert, “Zur
Ausdifferzierung des Genres Kriminalgeschichten“, 97). In addition, I
mention various important crime stories that preceded my selection. The
selected works are arranged in each of the relevant literary epochs
(Romanticism/Biedermeier and Poetic Realism), with which I attempt to highlight
their specific characteristics and their detective elements. Due to the moral
and psychological embodiment, as well as the social circumstances, the crimes
are in some phases of the history of the genres more and in others less
emphasized, and I attempt to analyze in each exemplary work by comparing these
texts and according to certain criteria.</p>
<p>The second chapter deals with
theoretical approaches, in particular with hermeneutics or how to “read” facts.
I also investigate the literary sociological question of which prototype of
perpetrators the authors create in their works and examine them for their psychological
features. My text, which is classified in the context of the genre, examines
the developments of the crime novel and clarifies the changing criminological
aspects, as well as analyzes the positions of different research approaches to
the criminal justice system, which can be identified or explored from different
angles of these literary examples.</p>
<p>The third chapter begins with a
brief overview of the six books in question. The main characters are then
discussed further, which I have divided into criminals, victims, and
accomplices. Because of this centrality in the books, most emphasis is placed
on the criminals, with a close look at their motives, the way they plan and
carry out the crime, how they endure the investigation, and finally, whether
and to what extent they feel remorse for their actions. “<i>Die Judenbuche</i>”
is treated separately here because of the much stronger social component and
the environment, as well as the open-ended description of the crimes and the
perpetrators. Victims and accomplices tend to be marginalized in the books
studied here, with women being the only accomplices whose consciences suffer
because of their role. Finally, the moral compass and guilt of the perpetrators
are examined in relation to their social and material situation, their family,
and their religion.</p>
The final chapter focuses on the differences
between the modern crime stories and their precursors, which have been studied
here. I try to define and carefully delineate the main components of a
successful and appealing crime story through the lens of several
internationally known examples of world literature. There are parallels to the
older German authors treated in this thesis, who also have implications for the
artistic elements of the books in comparison to simple entertainment. My main
focus is on the plot, the length of the books, the investigations and the
detectives, and their methods of solving the crime. These German authors tended
to write short works, short stories or novellas that allowed little space for
complex stories or lengthy novels. They must be unraveled even more powerfully
or efficiently by brilliant detectives and very attentive readers due to the
brevity of the works. As the texts are structured stringently, the actions are
simple and rather uncomplicated. The detectives practically do not exist as a
kind of institution, but rather on the periphery. Crimes that are always solved
seem to serve both legal and moral justice and ultimately satisfy the
expectations of readers. Finally, I discuss the stylistic characteristics of
those early crime novels compared to what readers are used to seeing or
expecting today.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/14515182 |
| Date | 30 April 2021 |
| Creators | Viseslava Rasajski Sasic (10725444) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/DIE_DEUTSCHE_KRIMINALGESCHICHTE_DES_19_JAHRHUNDERTS_UNTERSCHIEDLICHE_BLICKWINKEL_UND_DIE_ENTWICKLUNG_DES_GENRES/14515182 |
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