Muriel Spark’s Employment of Burlesque: Parody of Detective Fiction in Not to Disturb

Serkan Ertin

Abstract


Parody contributes to the improvement of literary genres since it is the key to various popular subgenres as in the case of the development of detective fiction. 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 fim 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


parody; Muriel Spark; detective fiction; pastiche; postmodern novel

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References


Abrams, M.H. (1988): A Glossary of Literary Terms. NewYork: The Dryden Press.

Dane, J. A. (1988) Parody: Critical Concepts Versus Literary Practices, Aristophanes to Sterne. London: Oklahoma P.

MacDonald, J. (1997): “Parody and Detective Fiction”. Theory and Practice of Classic Detective Fiction. Jerome H. Delamater and Ruth Prigozy, eds. London: Greenwood.

Melling, J. K. (1996): Murder Done to Death: Parody and Pastiche in Detective Fiction. London: The Scarecrow.

Smith, J. R (1996): Detective Fiction. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt.

Spark, M (1974): Not to Disturb. Middlesex: Penguin.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2017.41.1.65
Date of publication: 2017-07-04 09:02:31
Date of submission: 2016-06-29 11:04:36


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