In: HeLix - Heidelberger Beiträge zur romanischen Literaturwissenschaft, Nr. 4 (2011), S. 102-125

Abstract

This article seeks to develop a new genealogy of Argentine detective literature, as well as detective literature from the Rio de la Plata basin. In contrast to the dominant trend within the secondary literature, I maintain that the Argentine detective fiction (“Género policial”) begins in 1877 and developed into its own literary tradition, one that incorporates different elements of the European criminal and detective literature genres. The initial period of Argentine detective fiction dates from 1877 to 1912, from the publication of the first detective novel (La huella del crimen, by Raúl Waleis) to the publication of the first compliation of detective stories (Casos policiales, by William Wilson). These stories gradually percolated into the English model of the “golden age” detective story. The end of the República Conservadora via changes to electoral law in 1912, which instituted universal suffrage in place of a limited suffrage, combined with significant changes in the literary and journalistic market to spell the end of the first era of Argentine detective fiction.