Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 15, 1 (2023) 150–162
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausp-2023-0010
Abstract. The classical detective story is based on a teleological certainty offered by the narrative. In these stories, the detective successfully solves the crime, and the lawful order is restored in an assuring manner, so the closure of the narrative structure does not allow for an open ending in ontological terms. However, weird fiction and its most recent form, new weird, have a different approach to the teleological givens prescribed by the classical detective story (whodunit). The weird investigation is paradigmatically open-ended, and the detective most often fails to solve the case. The argument develops a distinction between two basic semiotic structures that characterize crime fiction. While all crime fiction is set in an environment that is based on simulation, the classical detective can revert the simulated semiotic structure into signs based on representation, thus the interpretation of the signs results in solving the crime. The weird and new weird stories, on the other hand, defy this representational logic, which is demonstrated by Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s weird fiction and Neil Gaiman’s new weird short story entitled “A Study in Emerald.”
Keywords: crime fiction, simulation, semiotics, weird tale, new weird
SAPIENTIA HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF TRANSYLVANIA
The Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania is the independent university of the Hungarian community in Romania, which aims at providing education to the members of our community and performing scientific research on a high professional level.
Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania,
Scientia Publishing House
Acta Universitatis Sapientiae
RO 400112 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Str. Matei Corvin nr. 4.
Email: acta @ acta.sapientia.ro
