CRIME STORIES AS CAUTIONARY TALES

Abstract

This article explores crime fiction within a world literature framework. It argues that the study of national traditions can blind us to the dialogue across borders and languages between texts and authors. It proposes a reading practice that aims to develop a more nuanced understanding of this truly global genre. Many of the finest works of detective fiction, especially in the mid of XXI centuries, were works of Scott Turow. Turow relies heavily on metaphorical language to define his characters. Typically, he draws on his own firsthand experiences of the courtroom, of police procedures, and of political maneuvering and corruption to create realistic and gripping characters and scenes. He tends to return to several compelling themes: the technical and moral intricacies of legal practice, the elusive quality of truth and how well truth can be revealed by the legal process, and the notions that anyone can be corrupted and that everyone has at least one dark secret. Heroes can be quite flawed, and even villains act because of understandable human motives. These ideas are central to all of Turow’s fiction, although each work takes a different approach to exploring these themes. Moreover, the article shows how Turow’s later novels introduce a greater range of characters, examine these characters’ failures in greater depth, and address more convoluted aspects of courtroom tactics, crime, and criminal behavior. Each book features a corpse, but the mystery of “whodunit” has increasingly become secondary to Turow’s delight in legal maneuvering and his concerns with larger questions of character.