On the Borders of the Page, on the Borders of Genre: Artificial Paratexts in Golden Age Detective Fiction

Abstract

While the footnote in fiction has been explored in relation to specific agendas in different historical eras, 1 in relation to generic use, it has primarily been exam- ined as prefiguring or as one of the tropes of postmodernism. By examining the footnote in fiction in relation to issues of genre, we can explore the correlative sta- bility between the boundaries of the page and the boundaries of generic form. In the detective fiction genre, and particularly in the Golden Age clue-puzzle, 2 the foot- note in fiction specifically questions the role of genre in defining the boundaries be- tween our appreciation of reality and fiction, as can particularly be seen in the works of pseudonymous detective novelists S. S. Van Dine, Carter Dickson, and Ed- mund Crispin. The pseudonymous authorship of these detective series calls atten- tion not only to the notes' role in the fiction but also to the role of pseudonyms as fictional creations. Whereas in late twentieth-century literature attention to textual- ity is often assumed to undermine the realistic narrative frame, in the Golden Age detective novels the footnotes in the fiction reveal that acknowledged textuality can establish the realistic narrative frame while the notion of genre undermines it. Golden Age detective fiction is generally recognized for its clue-puzzle struc- ture, particularly as popular Golden Age authors like Van Dine propose that the de- tective novel is a complicated and extended puzzle cast in fictional (Detective Story 5). 3 Because the form foregrounds the puzzle element, the genre has developed rules of fair play that are meant to enable the reader equal oppor-