A Counter-History of Crime Fiction: Supernatural, Gothic, Sensational

by Maurizio Ascari

This book takes a look at the evolution of crime fiction. Considering 'criminography' as a system of inter-related sub-genres, it explores the connections between modes of literature such as revenge tragedies, the gothic and anarchist fiction, while taking into account the influence of pseudo-sciences such as mesmerism and criminal anthropology.

Genres: Nonfiction

237 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2007

Reviews

[James]

Read for research into mesmerism in fiction but the whole thing turned out to be a really interesting and enjoyable read.
A bit short for all the topics it tries to discuss but definitely a worthwhile starting point

[Helen Turnock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad just less relevant than I wanted it to be

[Bri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting deviation from the traditional genealogy of crime fiction. Will dip into this again in more depth, but the work on medieval belief in murder always coming out and Renaissance revenge drama will be very useful; also see chapter on Lombroso and physiognomy.