Desperately looking for the truth: The traps and trappings of crime fiction in Charles Palliser’s The Unburied
In keeping with its dramatic title, crimes abound in Charles Palliser’s The Unburied which includes no fewer than three enigmas set in three different times (xith, xviith and xixth centuries). Departing from the singleness of purpose of the detective novel, The Unburied switches from one plot to ano...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2004-12-01
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| Series: | Sillages Critiques |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/1481 |
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| Summary: | In keeping with its dramatic title, crimes abound in Charles Palliser’s The Unburied which includes no fewer than three enigmas set in three different times (xith, xviith and xixth centuries). Departing from the singleness of purpose of the detective novel, The Unburied switches from one plot to another, accumulating theories intended to account for the crimes but actually contradicting and cancelling one another. The Unburied is thus constructed on a paradox as it uses the dynamic of a genre oriented towards the solving of an enigma while playfully undermining its rules. The genre is also indirectly destabilised through the conspicuous use of conventions taken to extreme or the inclusion of worn-out motifs. Thus, in The Unburied, the eerily confined space is somewhat unreal while the time dimension literally invades the narrative, thus losing its significance. Moreover, the art of concealing is so consummate that it threatens the balance between the hidden story of the crime and the open story of the investigation. Finally, by openly or obliquely subverting the rules of the genre, The Unburied plays down the revelation while conversely foregrounding the interpretative activity. Palliser’s novel thus highlights, in a post-modern way, the elusiveness and indeterminacy of truth and effectively diverts the reader’s interest from the unburied to the unburying process. |
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| ISSN: | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |