Abstract
‘Cherchez la femme’ is an oft-repeated phrase in mystery and detective fiction. It first appeared in Alexandre Dumas’ 1854–7 novel Les Mohicans de Paris as ‘Cherchons la femme’, words spoken by M. Jackal, a police detective. The subsequent popular listings could fill a book: they range from James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia to Churchy La Femme in the comic Pogo. Typically the phrase has a function. It signals the entry of a female character — into a narrative previously masculine in content. The (male) detective has not solved a mystery, and the answer lies with a woman. ‘Cherchez la femme’, the search for her, re-genders the text.
Cherchons la femme. (Let us look for the woman)
Alexandre Dumas (père), Les Mohicans de Paris, vol. 2, chapter 2
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© 2010 Lucy Sussex
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Sussex, L. (2010). Introduction: Look for the Women. In: Women Writers and Detectives in Nineteenth-Century Crime Fiction. Crime Files Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230289406_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230289406_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-32311-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28940-6
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