Wealth and Entitlement in Detective Fiction: Britain’s History of Pillage in India
Keertika Lotni
Publication: Volume 1 Issue 2
Abstract
The theme of the paper is to read evidences of loot and pillaging in detective fiction. Citing, Wilkie Collin’s novel The Moonstone (1868) and The Sign of the Four (1890) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Britain’s responsibility for the economic position it pushes its colonies into has been investigated. The novels in question are both written by British authors, a fact that remains crucial to the context of the paper. In this case, the colony in focus happens to be India. Through the loss and gain of gems and treasures (respectively), the questions of subsequent wealth and entitlement are dealt with in the paper.
Keywords: Detective Fiction, Wilkie Collin, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. British Colonialism.
Keertika Lotni (keertika.lotni@gmail.com) is a scholar of English literature pursuing M.Phil. from the Department of English, University of Delhi. Her research interests range from poetry and prose to writings on Regional Literature. She is currently working on issues pertinent to popular fiction written in Hindi.