Ruth Rendell

Susan A. Rowland

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 17 Feb 1930
Died 2 May 2015
Activity 1964-2015

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Genres and Modes

Crime and Detective

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Other

Story-writer

Resources

Rendell's Works

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Best-selling contemporary British author of police detective fiction, thrillers and psychological crime novels, Ruth Rendell troubles the contested boundary between “popular” and “literary” writer. She published in three related genres. Beginning in 1964,

From Doon with Death

introduces her liberal policeman, Inspector Wexford, guardian of fictional south of England town, Kingsmarkham. Rendell's second work,

To Fear a Painted Devil

(1965), is the first of her crime thrillers. These do not contain the reassuring presence of the detective. Rendell alternated these crime genres until 1986, and the publication of her first psychological novel under the name of Barbara Vine.

A Dark-Adapted Eye

demonstrated what were to become Vine motifs: the exploration of complex family…

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2469 words

Citation: Rowland, Susan A.. "Ruth Rendell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 October 2004; last revised 24 May 2022. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3746, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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