The Disabled Detective. Representation of Disability and Immobility in Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme Novels (PDF)

Bachelorarbeit aus dem Jahr 2019 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Literatur, Note: 1,7, Universität Bremen, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The first chapter of this bachelor's thesis is dedicated to disability studies in literature, their development history, their theory and especially scholars' achievements. We will touch upon historical events regarding the disability movement until we move on to the most influential works of literary scholars. The fundamental shift in research questions is extraordinary and will be discussed chronologically. To narrow the main topic down, detective fiction is the noteworthy sub-genre. The differences between crime- and detective fiction are briefly discussed and conspicuous characteristics of this type of literature are summarized. In a shift of attention towards disabled detectives in literature, the main concern will be their specific position and their emblematic profit towards the fictional literature. How literature in general and especially detective fiction can benefit from inclusion and representation of disability will be the last point of interest before moving on to the main topic of this essay.

Conflating the knowledge acquired, this thesis will analyse three of Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels. This is based on three categories to analyse how disability is represented in these novels. The chapter "Styles of Motion" will
revolve around movement quite literally as the quadriplegic detective moves seldom or not at all as well as metaphorically in terms of moving through time and space in the plot. The subsequent chapter "Modes of Thinking" focuses on the perception of disability from the disabled character's perspective. How do they feel towards the disability and what, if anything, do they do to conquer it? "Forms of Communication" concentrates on the perception of
disability from the outside, in other words, it will concentrate on questions such as: How do other characters address the disability and what kind of relationship form the addressee and the addresser?

The concluding chapter will build the bridge between disability studies in literature and how the shift that happened in theory was implemented in practice, the phrase "Not Despite but Because" will be elaborated and the development of the character Lincoln Rhyme is analysed in context to the current main concern of literature disability studies.