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Of Monsters and Men – Crime Fiction’s Allure and Popular Culture

Detective fiction, in all of its variations, such as courtroom drama, mafia novels and police procedurals, firmly holds the throne as the most widely written and read genre today. Given its subject matter – human nature at its worst – this raises the question of our fascination with the genre: why is crime fiction so intriguing to us, given that, for the most part, these novels depict experiences we would never consider desirable in real life? This variation of the old Hume’s problem – why do we take pleasure in tragedy – is given a new rendition, considering that the artistic qualities of detective fiction are, arguably, lower than those of tragedy. To some philosophers, this not only implies that there is no aesthetic pleasure to be gained by getting imaginatively involved with crime fiction, it also implies the overall preference for ‘bad’ literature. One of the most popular explanations on offer as to why this is the case – according to which we take pleasure in tracking down the criminal or in monitoring police’s progress if we already know who the bad guy is – is impoverished, I claim, as it neglects not only the literary qualities of crime fiction, but, more importantly, a distinctive kind of engagement these works demand. Taking into consideration some of the most recent developments in literary cognitivism and literary Darwinism, I offer a more benevolent reading of crime fiction, one that recognizes various aspects of this genre which explain its aesthetic appeal and ground its literary value.

Crime fiction ; genre fiction ; detective novels ; popular culture ; aesthetic properties

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