Gender Identity and Gender Relations Redefined Muller’s and Grafton’s Female Countertradition to Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction

The present study compares the depiction of female as well as male characters and their identities in American detective fiction at different times. In detail, it analyzes to what extent American hard-boiled detective fiction by and about professional women from the 1980s onwards reinvents the formula and the gender perceptions of their male forerunners in the 1920s and 1930s. It examines how the female authors alter the norms and ideologies of the male original and adjust the depiction of female as well as male characteristics and roles toward a less stereotyped, but more authentic presentation.

Introduction.- Characteristics of Detective Fiction from Its Inception to the 1920.- The Golden Age of Detective Fiction in England.- American Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction.- Female Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction.- Conclusion.

Dr. phil. Stephanie Bernhard is a literary scholar who graduated in American Studies and German Philology at Mainz University, Germany. There, she also received her PhD in American Studies. Preferably, she dedicates herself to North American literature and explores life in our changing society, especially concerning gender roles. She now works in higher education in Koblenz, Germany.