tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post1160957091660591949..comments2024-03-28T10:31:55.774-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: Listen to Your Mother (s) 2: Women Writers and Detectives in Nineteenth-Century Crime Fiction: The Mothers of the Mystery Genre (2010), by Lucy Sussex, Part 1The Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-28469393629091551822015-06-15T13:57:26.687-07:002015-06-15T13:57:26.687-07:00Oh, I have definitely had publishers asking me abo...Oh, I have definitely had publishers asking me about Street, and I have always tried to facilitate things when I can. On Punshon, yes, all his book will be reprinted in electronic and paper forms by DSP. My aim is to write a 1000-word introduction for each, so at the end of the day there will be about 35,000 words on the man and his work, like a long book section.<br /><br />The Cols came very close to being reprinted this year, but there was a late snafu, still have hopes.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-17576500864784665012015-06-15T10:19:13.976-07:002015-06-15T10:19:13.976-07:00It would be a wonderful feat to get all of Street&...It would be a wonderful feat to get all of Street's work back in print as he had such an exceptional output. Here in the U.K you used to be able to pick them up for pennies but with the advent of such websites as Amazon and eBay along with the current interest in GAD novels the prices have inflated considerably. As you point out The British Library edition of Farjeon's Mystery in White being a surprise Christmas bestseller has increased his value. At least they have two more in the pipeline for release later this year and with Dean Street's good work in getting Punshon back on the shelves there's definitely a market for Street's work. Fingers crossed.Colonel Burnabyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02548255043726451514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-41065508792044487392015-06-15T08:51:06.676-07:002015-06-15T08:51:06.676-07:00I'm glad to hear you like the Coles' books...I'm glad to hear you like the Coles' books, they didn't come out so well in Martin Edwards' book, I thought! I hope Spectrum provides the definitive account of their work, there's also more on their personal lives as related to their fiction. I definitely like some of the Milward Kennedy books, as does Martin, and Farjeon became one of my favorites about fifteen years ago. I collected copies of all his books, a good investment concerning his embrace by the British Library!<br /><br />I became really interested in Street about twenty years ago, after seeing how Barzun's and Taylor's Catalogue of Crime praised him so highly. I was able to read all his books, barring three Cecil Wayes, and really wanted to write about him and the other so-called "Humdrums." Still working on getting all his books back in print, it's been unexpectedly difficult, given that there actually is publisher interest.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-73235541441299301002015-06-15T08:23:03.010-07:002015-06-15T08:23:03.010-07:00I have read Masters of the Humdrum and thoroughly ...I have read Masters of the Humdrum and thoroughly recommend it to readers of the genre. Well researched and informative. I especially enjoyed reading about Cecil Street. You've done him proud. I have Spectrum on order. As a fan of the work G.D.H. and Margret Cole I can't wait to delve into it. Now if only somebody would write such a book on Milward Kennedy or J Jefferson Farjeon ;).Colonel Burnabyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02548255043726451514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-63669588921832846562015-06-15T07:31:47.964-07:002015-06-15T07:31:47.964-07:00Xavier, I can see why Haycraft didn't look at ...Xavier, I can see why Haycraft didn't look at these writers, as I explain in post one, given the time he was writing and his emphasis on pure detection, but the omission seems more striking in the case of Symons, given that Symons had read Alma Murch, who makes the case for these writers (and was rather orthodox herself), and includes a number of writers in his study who were not pure puzzlers.<br /><br />Overall, I think the modern academics are right that we have to acknowledge the impact of the Gothic/Sensation novel traditions on crime fiction, pure detective fiction being merely one element of the genre, although a wonderful and important one.<br /><br />Look forward to reading your Track piece.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-55591073421548516692015-06-15T07:23:58.868-07:002015-06-15T07:23:58.868-07:00Always glad to be of service!Always glad to be of service!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-81667501702549207512015-06-15T07:23:30.875-07:002015-06-15T07:23:30.875-07:00Oh, yes, I plan to review Blockbuster! soon. And ...Oh, yes, I plan to review Blockbuster! soon. And more in detail on Mothers soon.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-64469076577434636612015-06-15T07:22:26.755-07:002015-06-15T07:22:26.755-07:00Well, if you've read my Masters of the "H...Well, if you've read my Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery or The Spectrum of English Murder (the new one), you know I have major disagreements with Symons! Though i still think it's the best history of detective fiction out there. I also think Jacques Barzun was a great theorist of the genre, though I don't agree with him all the time eitherThe Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-84721200313723735342015-06-15T05:03:48.948-07:002015-06-15T05:03:48.948-07:00Thanks for an interesting article. I'm not a g...Thanks for an interesting article. I'm not a great fan of Symons Bloody Murder and find it a bit of a hatchet job on the genre resulting in a book that for me reads more as an insight into Symons personal taste than an all-encompassing balanced critique on detective fiction. There are too many omissions and authors who do get covered tend to get boxed off as good, bad or indifferent. The last time that I perused a copy I was thinking it would benefit from the subtitle The Case of the Disappearing Detectives. Thou saying this I would recommend it to anyone starting out on the genre as there's plenty to get your teeth into.Colonel Burnabyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02548255043726451514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-7365635362410733932015-06-15T03:15:13.065-07:002015-06-15T03:15:13.065-07:00I think both Haycraft and Symons, modernist as he ...I think both Haycraft and Symons, modernist as he was, held a fairly "traditionalist" definition of the detective story and found sensation writers like Braddon or Wood lacking in that respect. I myself read Braddon's TRAIL OF THE SERPENT some years ago <a href="http://atthevillarose.blogspot.fr/2011/07/mary-elizabeth-braddon-sur-les-traces.html" rel="nofollow">and was underwhelmed</a>. Deciding who is or is not a "Great Ancestor" requires, as Chandler said, to agree on standards and definitions and to me the "orthodox" like Haycraft or Symons (or me, for that matter) and the "revisionists" seem not to agree on what the genre is and does, hence their differing views of the history of the genre. Xavierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05702919450638993709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-84265172798673822522015-06-15T01:29:02.596-07:002015-06-15T01:29:02.596-07:00I enjoyed Sussex's book very much when I read ...I enjoyed Sussex's book very much when I read it a couple of months ago. She has a new book out next week, Blockbuster! about Fergus Hume & The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.lynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04509400868331534237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-49514150499425673622015-06-14T19:44:26.792-07:002015-06-14T19:44:26.792-07:00Oops: again forgot to sub.Oops: again forgot to sub.noirencyclopediahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02843963811822980754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-73316797083180128642015-06-14T19:43:52.281-07:002015-06-14T19:43:52.281-07:00Many thanks again -- I'm finding these posts e...Many thanks again -- I'm finding these posts exceptionally interesting and useful.<br /><br />Gutenberg, by the way, doesn't have <i>The Trail of the Serpent</i>, but the Internet Archive does -- <a href="https://archive.org/details/trailserpentano00bradgoog" rel="nofollow">with luck this link will work</a>.noirencyclopediahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02843963811822980754noreply@blogger.com