Dissection of Patricia Cornwell's feminist woman detective Kay Scarpetta

Carme Farré Vidal

doi:10.18172/jes.180

Authors

Carme Farré Vidal University of Lleida

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.180

Keywords:

Feminist detective fiction, Kay Scarpetta, equality, patriarchy, abuse of power, women’s victimisation

Abstract

This analysis of Kay Scarpetta acknowledges the importance of feminism in the identity of this woman detective. Kay Scarpetta contests patriarchy from the root: she is a forensic anthropologist with the necessary intellectual abilities and expertise for the pursuit of criminals. She has the power to solve the murder, the patriarchal privilege enjoyed by the traditional male detective, but her characterisation retains feminine characteristics, too: she can admit to be afraid in the face of danger and she cares for victims, those lying on her autopsy table – many of whom are women – but also the ones left behind. Kay Scarpetta’s identity leads her to expose the forms that women’s victimisation can take in a society based on prioritising men’s privileges. The obstacles that Kay Scarpetta has to overcome in order to expose patriarchy will not discourage her, though, since her ultimate goal is to help dignity and equality prevail.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Berglund, B. 2000. “Desires and Devices: On Women Detectives in Fiction”. The Art of Detective Fiction. Eds. W. Chernaik, M. Swales, and R. Vilain. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London: Macmillan Press Ltd. 138-152.

Brittan, A. 1989. Masculinity and Power. Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell.

Buchbinder, D. 1994. Masculinities and Identities. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

Clatterbaugh, K. 1990. Contemporary Perspectives on Masculinity: Men, Women, and Politics in Modern Society. Boulder, Colorado, and Oxford: Westview Press.

Connell, R. W. 1993. “The Big Picture: Masculinities in Recent World History”. Theory and Society 22 (5): 597-623.

Cornwell, P. 2005 (1990). Postmortem. London: Time Warner Books.

Cornwell, P. 2005 (1991). Body of Evidence. London: Time Warner Paperbacks.

Cornwell, P. 2005 (1992). All That remains. London: Time Warner Paperbacks.

Cornwell, P. 2004 (1993). Cruel and Unusual. London: Time Warner Paperbacks.

Cornwell, P. 2004 (1994). The Body Farm. London: Time Warner Paperbacks.

Cornwell, P. 2000 (1995). From Potter’s Field. London: Warner Books.

Cornwell, P. 2000 (1996). Cause of Death. London: Warner Books.

Cornwell, P. 2005 (1998). Point of Origin. London: Time Warner Books.

Cornwell, P. 2005 (2000). The Last Precinct. London: Time Warner Books.

Cornwell, P. 2005 (2003). Blow Fly. London: Time Warner Books.

Cornwell, P. 2005 (2004). Trace. London: Time Warner Books.

Cornwell, P. 2006 (2005). Predator. London: Time Warner Books.

Cornwell, P. 2007. Book of the Dead. London: Little Brown.

Cornwell, P. 2009 (2008). Scarpetta. London: Sphere.

Cornwell, P. 2009. The Scarpetta Factor. London: Little Brown.

Cranny-Francis, A. 1990. Feminist Fiction: Feminist Uses of Generic Fiction. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Humm, M. 1990. “Feminist Detective Fiction”. Twentieth-Century Suspense: The Thriller Comes of Age. Ed. C. Bloom. Houndhills, Basingstoke, Hampshsire RG21 2XS and London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. 237-54.

Jackson, C. A. 2002. Myth and Ritual in Women’s Detective Fiction. Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers.

Messent, P. 1997. “Introduction: From Private Eye to Police Procedural – The Logic of Contemporary Crime Fiction”. Criminal Proceedings: The Contemporary American Crime Novel. Ed. P. Messent. London: Pluto Press. 1-21.

Mizejewski, L. 2004. Hardboiled and High Heeled. The Woman Detective in Popular Culture. New York: Routledge.

Munt, S. R. 1994. Murder by the Book? Feminism and the Crime Novel. London and New York: Routledge. Pilcher, J. and Whelehan I. 2005. Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies. London, Thousand Oaks, and New Delhi: SAGE Publications.

Reddy, M. T. 1988. Sisters in Crime: Feminism and the Crime Novel. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.

Simpson, P. L. 2000. Psyco Paths. Tracking the Serial Killer through Contemporary American Film and Fiction. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press.

Tomc, S. 1995. “Questing Women: The Feminist Mystery after Feminism”. Feminism in Women’s Detective Fiction. Ed. G. Irons. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press. 46-63.

Vanacker, S. 1997. “V.I. Warshawski, Kinsey Millhone and Kay Scarpetta: Creating a Feminist Detective Hero”. Criminal Proceedings: The Contemporary American Crime Novel. Ed. P. Messent. London: Pluto Press. 62-86.