Sue Grafton

David C. Dougherty (Loyola University Maryland)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 24 Apr 1940
Died 28 Dec 2017
Activity 1967-2017

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Genres and Modes

Crime and Detective

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Other

Film/TV Script-writer/ Screenwriter

Resources

Grafton's Works

Save to Bookshelf

When the detective story migrated from Great Britain to America, a metamorphosis occurred. Drawing on native folk traditions, including the frontiersman, the cowboy, and the Indian fighter of folklore and pop culture, American crime and detection novelists fashioned an indigenous hero, the tough guy who relies on grit and tenacity more than on cerebral virtuosity. But with the advent of the tough guy as hero in fiction and film (especially film noir), the roles of women were limited to a series of stereotypes: the dedicated (and adoring) helper, the temptress, and the femme fatale. Readers may recall the denouements of novels by Dashiell Hamlett, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald – all influenced directly or indirectly by the macho heroes of Ernest Hemingway – and especially the…

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1671 words

Citation: Dougherty, David C.. "Sue Grafton". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14039, accessed 23 November 2024.]