The Crime Novel

Javier Cercas and P. D. James

The Paris Review Redux: free interviews, stories, poems, and art from the archives of The Paris Review. View this email in your browser Photograph by Nancy Crampton. "I've always thought that my novels—and all the novels I enjoy—are detective novels, at least in the sense that they each contain a mystery and someone seeking to untangle it," said Javier Cercas to Andrés Barba, when asked about his recent foray into detective fiction. "In literature, there are no minor or major genres, only major or minor ways of employing them." The Art of Fiction No. 264 with Cercas appears in our new Fall issue. This week, inspired by Cerca's reflections on genre, we're unlocking our Art of Fiction interview with the beloved British writer P. D. James, best known for her crime and detective novels, and her character Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard.  INTERVIEW The Art of Fiction No. 141 P. D. James   INTERVIEWER This brings us to the genre you chose for yourself. Did you choose it because you were aware of having a talent for it? JAMES I don't make a distinction between the so-called serious or literary novel and the crime novel. I suppose one could say mainstream novel. But I didn't hesitate long before I decided to try to write a detective story, because I so much enjoyed reading them myself. And I thought I could probably do it successfully, and the detective story being a popular genre, it would have a better chance of being accepted for publication. I didn't want to use the traumatic experiences of my own life in an autobiographical book, which would have been another option for a first attempt. But there were two other reasons. First, I like structured fiction, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. I like a novel to have narrative drive, pace, resolution, which a detective novel has. Second, I was setting out at last on the path of becoming a writer, which I had longed for all my life, and I thought writing a detective story would be a wonderful apprenticeship for a "serious" novelist, because a detective story is very easy to write badly but difficult to write well. From issue no. 135 (Summer 1995) To read more from issue no. 135, including poetry by Carl Phillips and John Ashbery, why not subscribe? You'll receive four print issues a year plus unlimited digital access to our seventy-one-year archive.  Copyright © 2024 The Paris Review. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: The Paris Review 544 West 27th Street 3rd Floor New York, New York 10001 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe, if you must.