Day: April 15, 2015

Edgar Wallace and the Global Thriller

AHRC, Big Data, Book covers, Detective story, Publishers, Series, Translation Leave a comment

4justposter Walpic

Edgar Wallace (Greenwich, 1875- Beverly Hills, 1932) is probably one of the  crime authors whose academic reappraisal stands to gain the most from the shift in methods and objects advocated in this blog. A sort of consensus  has hitherto prevailed, consigning his books (famously written  over amazingly brief, but sustained, periods of concentration) in the category of  hastily churned out yarns.  Successful, but ultimately forgettable.  Mass market products of their time, which have now become less appealing, and promise little reward to the modern reader. This is certainly very unfair.  One needs only to consider  his books’ capacity to thrill all across the world to be inclined to revise such judgement. Or to reflect on the number of adaptations to the screen (more than 150, making him one of the world leading authors) his novels have received Continue reading →

London calling: Forensics, European crime fiction…and cake

AHRC, Events, One comment

Mrs. Peabody Investigates

I’m just back from a couple of crime-filled days in London. The main reason for my visit was to speak at a symposium on European crime fiction and data visualisation (of which more later), but I travelled up a day early in order to see the Forensics exhibition at The Wellcome Trust.

16498201563_555d7a914b_z The Wellcome Trust is by Euston Square station. Get there early, as it’s a popular exhibition

I’ve already written about the Forensics exhibition in a previous post, so here’s a summary of the parts I particularly liked.

  • Its focus, as one would expect, is scientific, but it also incorporates photography and artwork reflecting on violence, murder and its aftermath, which provide some genuinely thought-provoking perspectives.
  • Frances Glessner Lee’s ‘Nutshell Study of Unexplained Death’ – a crime scene recreated in a dollhouse for police training purposes in the 1940s – was fascinating for its miniature juxtaposition of detailed handcrafts and…

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