Traditional prose narratives and modern literature : an exploration of the elements of a detective story in Tshivenda

Abstract

The study presents a comparative perspective of the elements of the detective story in traditional prose narratives and in modern literary texts. The study commences with introductory remarks covering the aim and justification of the research, the literature review, the theoretical framework and research methodology, background information about the detective story, and the organisation of chapters. The two types of stories in detective texts, that is, metadiegetic and diegetic, in the texts selected for the study are briefly sketched. This discussion is followed by a critical analysis of the elements of the detective story in each of these selected texts, both the traditional prose narratives and the modern literary texts. The elements of the detective story under investigation include crimes, characters, setting and narrative techniques. The study concludes with findings and recommendations