Author: Heidi Tiedemann Darroch
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Contemporary Takes on Classical Violence and Enslavement
Most literary works about violence against women, whether they’re depicting fictional crimes or historical ones, focus on individual victims. This makes sense for crime fiction, but it’s inadequate for considering systemic violence. I’ve been reading a set of works that, in fiction and drama, move beyond personal stories to construct broader narratives about how women’s…
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Victoria in the Spring: Iona Lam’s Fowl Play
Spring is real estate and cherry blossom season in Victoria. Locals search in vain for affordable new homes, and tourists flood off the cruise ships and ferries in search of souvenirs on Government Street. Iona Lam’s recent novel, Fowl Play, brings these two together. The first in a series, it is a cozy mystery that…
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The Great Gatsby, Crime Fiction Tropes, and One of the “Crimes of the Century”
The Great Gatsby was published on April 10, 1925. The reviews were lacklustre, and so were sales, failing to reach the acclaim of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s previous two novels. Then high school English teachers got their hands on it and . . . the rest is history. I’ve taught Gatsby several times, each time with…
