Polisiye kurguda ötekinin (Yanlış) temsili: Kayıp El Vakası öyküsünde suçlu öteki olarak göçebe romanlar

Abstract

This study seeks to examine (mis) representations of otherness in British detective fiction and focuses on the travelling gypsies as the criminal other in “The Case of the Missing Hand”, a story published in 1895 in Chronicles of Martin Hewitt by Arthur Morrison. In line with its objectives, the study firstly introduces characteristics of Victorian detective fiction and then provides a literary analysis of the crime story with a presumed murder victim, an exoticized crime setting, the detective figure and a foreign gypsy as the criminal other. In the article, it is argued that Morrison’s short story is a reflection of the strong stereotyping of the gypsies in Victorian society and depicts misrepresentation of the figure of the outsider gypsy as the criminal/villain in British community for endangering their sense of security and safety in the period. The use of primaeval superstitions as a motive for committing a crime further demonstrates estrangement of the gypsy community by distancing them both culturally and temporally through implications of primitiveness and savageness