C. P. Snow, Death Under Sail

Nicolas Tredell (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1932

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Death Under Sail (1932; revised edn, 1959), C. P. Snow’s first published novel, is a detective story set on the Norfolk Broads. It is a competent example of the genre which also anticipates in some respects Snow’s subsequent non-genre fiction. Its focus on the “play of forces” (37) among a small knot of characters “in a self-contained society” (118) both conforms to one of the conventions of the classic detective story and announces an interest in group dynamics which Snow will pursue in the eleven-book “Strangers and Brothers” series (especially The Masters (1951) and The Affair (1960)) and in his post-“Strangers and Brothers” fiction (particularly The Malcontents (1972)). …

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1503 words

Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "Death Under Sail". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 October 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19404, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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