TY - JOUR

T1 - Supernatural intuitions and classic detective fiction

T2 - a cognitivist appraisal

AU - Carney, James

PY - 2014/6/1

Y1 - 2014/6/1

N2 - Can detective fiction be illuminated by the psychology of religion? In this article I show (1) that classic detective fiction rhetorically accords the “privileged epistemic access” to mental states that we intuitively assign to punitive supernatural agents to the literary detective; and (2) that viewing the genre through this lens addresses several inconsistencies that have thus far resisted easy solution in the critical literature. I then make the argument (3) that this generic blurring results from competing historical pressures that simultaneously engendered greater levels of secularism and an increased propensity to believe in supernatural punishers in nineteenth century urban populations.

AB - Can detective fiction be illuminated by the psychology of religion? In this article I show (1) that classic detective fiction rhetorically accords the “privileged epistemic access” to mental states that we intuitively assign to punitive supernatural agents to the literary detective; and (2) that viewing the genre through this lens addresses several inconsistencies that have thus far resisted easy solution in the critical literature. I then make the argument (3) that this generic blurring results from competing historical pressures that simultaneously engendered greater levels of secularism and an increased propensity to believe in supernatural punishers in nineteenth century urban populations.

U2 - 10.5325/style.48.2.203

DO - 10.5325/style.48.2.203

M3 - Journal article

VL - 48

SP - 203

EP - 218

JO - Style

JF - Style

SN - 0039-4238

IS - 2

ER -