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(I explain the LHMP here and provide a cumulative index.)
One of the most popular genres in modern lesbian fiction (after plain old romance) is the mystery or thriller, where crimes and other legal shenanigans form a backbone of the plot. But the intersection between mysteries and lesbians has its roots not in the intrepid lesbian detective, rather in parallel themes of concealment and discovery. The sub-genres within this chapter depend very strongly on a sense of time and place in which the specific nuances of possibility, awareness, ignorance, and guilt make the plot possible.
* * *
Donoghue, Emma. 2010. Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. ISBN 978-0-307-27094-8
Keywords: love desire sex cross-dressing passing cohabitation
Chapter 5: Detection
Lesbian sex, per se, has rarely been against the law, but in literature the forbidden nature of lesbian relationships encourages entanglement with murder (in both roles), blackmail, and other staples of crime fiction. This chapter, though, focuses more on the act of detection and the ways in which the identification of lesbians and lesbian behavior parallels the solving of mysteries or crimes. As the specific literary examples in this chapter fall after my project cut-off of 1900, I'll just summarize motifs.
Sometimes the question of "who dunnit?" can only be solved by identifying who it was done to: "who" in the sense of the victim's true gender or true personal relationships. In other stores, the investigator's default assumptions about gender and relationships prove a stumbling block to crime solving when a lesbian relationship is involved. Motifs of cross dressing and passing can create illusory "victims" or criminals who disappear entirely after the crime when the disguise is abandoned. While some stories seem to conflate lesbian erotic fascination with evil, the direct motive for the crime is rarely the existential state of being a lesbian, but rather the misdirected passions or psychological stresses that closeted relationships could generate. Murder is presented as a direct "solution" to conflicts that could barely be defined, much less resolved, by other social means in the story's context. The male detective is often literally clueless about the key relationship aspects until filled in by female assistants who are more aware of the possibilities.
A newer type of detective is driven (whether consciously or not) to solve a crime to protect a woman she loves or at least sympathizes with. And in post-gay-liberation novels, she may step into the traditional hard-boiled role of the detective who falls for a client (whether innocent or guilty). The historic nature of literature circles around on itself in mysteries and thrillers like those of Sarah Waters that place these motifs and adventures in historic settings.
One of the most popular genres in modern lesbian fiction (after plain old romance) is the mystery or thriller, where crimes and other legal shenanigans form a backbone of the plot. But the intersection between mysteries and lesbians has its roots not in the intrepid lesbian detective, rather in parallel themes of concealment and discovery. The sub-genres within this chapter depend very strongly on a sense of time and place in which the specific nuances of possibility, awareness, ignorance, and guilt make the plot possible.
* * *
Donoghue, Emma. 2010. Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. ISBN 978-0-307-27094-8
Keywords: love desire sex cross-dressing passing cohabitation
Chapter 5: Detection
Lesbian sex, per se, has rarely been against the law, but in literature the forbidden nature of lesbian relationships encourages entanglement with murder (in both roles), blackmail, and other staples of crime fiction. This chapter, though, focuses more on the act of detection and the ways in which the identification of lesbians and lesbian behavior parallels the solving of mysteries or crimes. As the specific literary examples in this chapter fall after my project cut-off of 1900, I'll just summarize motifs.
Sometimes the question of "who dunnit?" can only be solved by identifying who it was done to: "who" in the sense of the victim's true gender or true personal relationships. In other stores, the investigator's default assumptions about gender and relationships prove a stumbling block to crime solving when a lesbian relationship is involved. Motifs of cross dressing and passing can create illusory "victims" or criminals who disappear entirely after the crime when the disguise is abandoned. While some stories seem to conflate lesbian erotic fascination with evil, the direct motive for the crime is rarely the existential state of being a lesbian, but rather the misdirected passions or psychological stresses that closeted relationships could generate. Murder is presented as a direct "solution" to conflicts that could barely be defined, much less resolved, by other social means in the story's context. The male detective is often literally clueless about the key relationship aspects until filled in by female assistants who are more aware of the possibilities.
A newer type of detective is driven (whether consciously or not) to solve a crime to protect a woman she loves or at least sympathizes with. And in post-gay-liberation novels, she may step into the traditional hard-boiled role of the detective who falls for a client (whether innocent or guilty). The historic nature of literature circles around on itself in mysteries and thrillers like those of Sarah Waters that place these motifs and adventures in historic settings.
