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Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story
Includes bibliographical references.
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of English Language and Literature
2016
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| _version_ | 1867613219058614272 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Roote, Christonie St Martin |
| author_browse | Roote, Christonie St Martin |
| author_facet | Roote, Christonie St Martin |
| author_sort | Roote, Christonie St Martin |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Includes bibliographical references. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17941 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:39.476Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Department of English Language and Literature |
| publisherStr | Department of English Language and Literature |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17941 Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story Roote, Christonie St Martin Literary Studies Includes bibliographical references. The so-called 'hard-boiled' detective story is probably one of the most successful formulaic fictive patterns to be developed this century; and has been translated very effectively into popular film and television drama. Its founding fathers are normally deemed to be Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. A study of their works should provide a valuable insight into the structure of their patterns and how they are made to work to the public's satisfaction. After all, the one indisputable and verifiable matter in the whole business is that these sort of texts appeal to great numbers of people who read them because they enjoy reading them. Some of the interesting questions thus revolve around the issue of why these fictions are so well liked. However, a study of literary formulas assumes the necessity of demonstrating what those particular formulas are. There are three predominating structures which, to my mind, build this kind of fiction into its finished shape. Firstly, there are the comfort factors which offer the reader a sense of security. Secondly, there is their sense of moral fantasy which allows the reader to escape from the confines of their everyday lives. And thirdly, in the best of these works, there is some element of the new and/or the unconventional, often in the form of social and political criticism encapsulated within the safe formulas of the text. This adds the necessary spice to the life of the construct. 2016-03-17T12:38:53Z 2016-03-17T12:38:53Z 1998 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17941 eng application/pdf Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Literary Studies Roote, Christonie St Martin Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story |
| title_full | Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story |
| title_fullStr | Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story |
| title_short | Comfort factors, moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction : a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the 'hard-boiled' detective story |
| title_sort | comfort factors moral fantasy and social criticism in formulaic fiction a study of literary formulas with particular reference to the hard boiled detective story |
| topic | Literary Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17941 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rootechristoniestmartin comfortfactorsmoralfantasyandsocialcriticisminformulaicfictionastudyofliteraryformulaswithparticularreferencetothehardboileddetectivestory |