| This dissertation examines the evolution of the fictional female detective in Britain through an analysis of works by canonical authors like William Wilkie Collies and Agatha Christie, and works by Andrew Forrester, Jr., one of the fast authors to feature a female detective in his fiction, and George Sims, a popular "slum journalist" and social investigator. The texts represented in this dissertation register important institutional, political, and social changes that took place during the period, including the development of the London Metropolitan Police force; legislative reform like the 1870 Married Women's Property Act; and the rise of vocational opportunities for women. The female detective's importance as a literary figure worthy of critical study lies in her ability to play with conventionalized notions of gender. The female detective, at times, adheres to these conventions; in other instances, she overtly rejects them. In either case, female detective fiction provides revealing critiques of gender roles by questioning what constitutes a woman's proper role and by dramatizing the tensions that result when conventional ideas about womanhood are challenged by the demands of the female detective's vocation---a vocation that is often perceived as unorthodox, unsuitable, and even dangerous for a woman. This study links the unconventional work of the female detective to other vocations for women emerging during the period and demonstrates how female detective fiction serves as a vehicle for articulating the quest for women's authority in the public realm. This study also explores the connection between the female detective and both conventional and unconventional "types"---the actress, the prostitute, the idealized Victorian wife, the spinster---and demonstrates how the genre both reinforces and undermines identification with such figures. By examining the female detective's relationship to the broader debates and complex issues surrounding women in British culture from 1864 to 1930, this study contributes to our understanding of how conceptions of femininity were mediated in popular British detective fiction and demonstrates female detective fiction's continued relevance to critical discussions about the construction of gendered identity. |
