COMPOSITION OF A DETECTIVE STORY. REVERSE MOVEMENT FORWARD

• Authors: Horvath T.
• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

The story level of composition in the detective genre is dominant. It dominates over other elements in the structure and keeps coherence of it. Stanko Lasic characterises that composition of a detective story (and also criminal genre) as linearly-reflexive. The starting point of narration is breaking the narrative balance, which is based on a motive of secrecy (mysterious crime, mostly murder with unknown criminal) and in the following block of searching the motives are organised in a specific way - during investigation new facts are revealed (that is the linear narrative movement forward). The revealed facts concern an event from past (that means retrospective movement back). One motive within a segment of investigation is simultaneously participating also in both perspective and retrospective movement; that means it contains two contrary vectors. Arranging activity of plot reverses chronologically causal order of motives in the story through inversion: first it distributes consequences, the result of a murdering act (mysterious crime) and only then - in the scene of solution - the causes, 'past' of the crime. Detective story is based on another story - the reconstruction of that story. It is a story of investigation (that is the story) of the story of murdering (plot). The story board of the detective story is searching of the plot of the crime and in the bock of solution it is transformed into that plot (in a summary of the acts and events). The beginning of the story of investigation is at the same time the end of the story of murdering.

Keywords

EN

DETECTIVE GENRE; LINEARLY-REFLEXIVE COMPOSITION; NARRATION; SECRECY; SYNTAGMIC AXIS

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Institute of Slovak Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenská literatúra (Slovak Literature)
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 55
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 27-57
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Horvath T.

• T. Horvath, Ustav slovenskej literatury SAV, Konventna 13, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08SKAAAA04298372