Essay
Why Was Crime Fiction So Popular in the Nineteenth Century?
- Module
- English Literature
- Institution
- The University Of Kent (UKC)
Why Was Crime Fiction So Popular in the Nineteenth Century?
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Why Was Crime Fiction So Popular in the Nineteenth Century?Info: 2340 words
Published: 8th Feb 2020
Crime ction is by no means a new idea, but its widespread popularity as its own literary
and cinematic genre is a relatively new development. Crime has been used as a plot
device in literature throughout history (religious texts, Islamic oral tales, Ming Dynasty
literature, medieval stories, Shakespearean plays, etc.), but until the nineteenth century, it
was never recognized as its own genre. Today the genre is so prevalent that it is broken
down into various subgenres such as horror, psychological and legal thrillers, detective
ction, police and forensic procedurals, and many more. For the sake of this essay, the
focus will be on crime ction through its rst stages of development, when it was just
beginning to take on a life of its own, and before mystery ction became its own distinct
genre. Many sources and scholars identify the nineteenth century (more speci cally, 19th
century England) as the birthplace of this beloved and increasingly popular genre. The
Victorian Age brought about a whole new take on crime — both true and ctional. It is
thanks to the Victorians that we can enjoy this genre and everything it has come to be.
Crime ction ourished in the nineteenth century because of the Victorians: their
environment, philosophies, culture, and shrewd publishers.
To begin to unravel the mystery behind the sudden explosion of crime ction, it is crucial
to understand the Victorians and the environment they found themselves in. The British
Industrial Revolution was in full swing at the turn of the nineteenth century. (“Industrial
Revolution”) Things were changing rapidly, and those who could adapt survived. The
middle and lower classes had some semblance of hope that they could change their lot in
life, and the lucrative promise of urban living sent peasants and farmers to cities in
droves. However, metropolitan overpopulation proved to dash many of these dreams. The
1801 census recorded a population of about one million, which would grow by more than
seven hundred percent by the end of the century. (Emsley et al.) Technology was evolving
quickly, but not enough to keep up with the increasing concentration of people. Victorian
London is infamous for its lth and depravity. Sewers, land lls, and graveyards were ill-
equipped to handle the sheer volume of waste produced. Bodies were over owing the
burial sites, excrement lled the Thames, and rotting garbage littered the streets. In a time
before environmental regulations, pollution from factories sat in the air like an ever-
present fog cloud. (Emsley et al.) Of course, there were simply not enough jobs to
accommodate such a massive in ux of people. Extreme poverty plagued the city, and the
lower class was juxtaposed with the upper classes. Crime was ever-present and getting
worse. Civic unrest became such a problem that in 1829, London o cials commissioned
the creation of the rst centralized civil police force — the London Metropolitan Police
Force. While met with contention at rst (according to Judith Flanders, the public saw
them as a “civilian army”), the Police Force quickly expanded and became quite popular.
The public went so far as to choose favorites and condemn those they saw as fools. The
police were mainly concerned with the prevention of crime, and soon realized it was also
necessary to nd a way to track down a perpetrator once a crime was committed. A
Detective Force was created in 1842 for this purpose, and the public could not have been
more interested. (Flanders)
Another phenomenon worth investigating in the e ort to understand why crime ction
became popular is the changing philosophies and ideologies of the time. The Victorian
Era succeeded the Age of Enlightenment and the Romantic period, both times of great
questioning and reason. Many folks were still rejecting the idea of organized religion and
embracing spiritualism instead. Occultism was not as popular with the Victorians as it
was in the Renaissance; pseudosciences took over, o ering what seemed to be a more
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