“Tales from the Darkside”: The Role of the Extractive Industries in the Rebus Novels
As mainstream detective fiction with a strong focus on police procedure, Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels fit the accepted definition of FASP. However, the investigations often touch on other professions and industries, allowing them to also be considered from the perspective of their intersecting professi...
Gardado en:
| Publicado en: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ilcea, |
|---|---|
| Autor Principal: | |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicado: |
ILCEA
2023
|
| Sujets: | |
| Acceso en liña: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | As mainstream detective fiction with a strong focus on police procedure, Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels fit the accepted definition of FASP. However, the investigations often touch on other professions and industries, allowing them to also be considered from the perspective of their intersecting professional substrats. This paper intends to explore the role of the fossil fuel industries, which are of particular significance, having shaped not only the personal and creative development of the author, but also the national, socio-political context in which the novels were written and set. It is our intention to examine in particular how the representation of the extractive industries generates images of concealment and uncovering, superficiality and depth which have particular resonance with the depiction of Rebus’s police investigations, generally characterised by the revealing of dark truths. More significantly, by linking these themes to the energy sources which have been pivotal to the modern world’s industrial development, and particularly to that of Scotland since the 1970s, the novels foreground the links between commercial, political and social concerns. By doing so, the Rebus novels characterise a modern Scottish literary tradition which reiterates the subordination of modern society to economic forces. However, in resituating the novels within this literary tradition where the extractive industries have always been strongly present, it is possible to question the pertinence of the FASP label in this instance. Instead, it can be seen how the same socioeconomic concerns connected with similar professional themes are shared by a number of Scottish works along a continuum which ranges from commercially-driven detective fiction to more challenging works of experimental writing. |
|---|