William Godwin (Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction)
Contribution
Whereas the modern detective novel is based mainly on nineteenth century views of realism and individualist psychology, William Godwin’s masterpiece and only work of detective fiction, Things As They Are: Or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794; best known as Caleb Williams), looks back to eighteenth century forms of literature where problems of communication and of class structure are major themes. Mystery and detection per se are always secondary in Godwin’s work to subjects such as the inequities of the English legal system, the relation...
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