The Feminine Sphere in Crime Fiction: Patricia Highsmith

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Celia López González

Abstract

The aim of this essay is visualizing the feminine sphere within the most important works
written by Patricia Highsmith, and, consequently, noir fiction. The Texan author is now
recognized to be one of the pioneers in renovating the detective fiction by using the
murderer’s psyche as the narrative voice. Her works renders various elements from
existentialist literature, initiated by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sigmund Freud’s desire theories,
and the homosexuality characterization in their male anti-heroes. We will analyze what is
the function of the female characters in the plot of her main novels: Strangers on a Train
and in Tom Ripley’s saga, “Ripliad”. We will focus on the female sphere in this subgenre
historically masculine, following the theories by Judith Butler, Diana Fuss and Jean
Shinoda Bolen.

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Artículos

How to Cite

The Feminine Sphere in Crime Fiction: Patricia Highsmith. (2018). VERBEIA. Revista De Estudios Filológicos. Journal of English and Spanish Studies, 2, 48-67. https://doi.org/10.57087/Verbeia.2018.4044