MURIEL SPARK’S EMPLOYMENT OF BURLESQUE: PARODY OF DETECTIVE FICTION IN NOT TO DISTURB

Author (s) : Dr. D. Mukesh Pillai & Dr. A. Sharmila, P. Sathya

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Abstract :
Since the early nineteenth century parody has been the most popular form of burlesque and has been applied to numerous works, authors and styles. Nonetheless, the only aim of parody, in contrast to the popular belief, is not ridicule. Parody also contributes to the improvement of literary genres since it is, for some, the key to various popular subgenres as in the case of the development of detective fiction. Detective fiction had its Golden Age after World War I with the great authors like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and G. K. Chesterton. World War II brought a taste for more violence and realism to postwar writers. People became more interested in the reasons underlying crimes with an increasing emphasis on psychology. Therefore, instead of whodunnit tradition, which aimed at finding the criminal in the novels, the reason why the crime was committed gained more importance. The function of Detective Fiction during those years, and even now, may be likened to morality or cycle plays in that in each the malefactor is revealed and punished, which leads to the triumph of the good over evil in the end. Despite the popularity of the genre, the first parodies appeared as early as one year after Sherlock Holmes stories became popular in 1891. Those early examples, not surprisingly, focused on Holmes. Later on, many other characters, works, and authors of detective stories became the target of parody. Muriel Spark’s Not to Disturb, among the contemporary examples of parody of detective stories, is about a group of sinister servants in a Swiss chateu awaiting impatiently the bloody deaths of their employers, dictating memoirs and even selling the film rights beforehand. Analysed in terms of its plot structure, characterisation and setting, the novel proves to be a brilliant example of parody of detective stories.

Keywords : parodies, ridicule, psychology, ubgenres

Conference Date : 17/09/2021

Pages : 252

Paper ID : IESMDT250