Bagatelas: a subversão feminista da literatura policial.

Abstract

This research has the objective of analyzing the play Trifles (1916), by the American writer Susan Glaspell (1876 - 1948), highlighting the characteristics of Detective fiction that are subverted by her feminist bias. For such an enterprise, it will be presented a historical panorama of the genre, and its volatile nature which permitted the writer, for example, to add her contributions to it by her unique point of view to this play of such an elevated style. Glaspell has a history of female protagonists in search of freedom. In Trifles, she uses the structure of mystery in order to denounce the devastating reality of the main characters, a suspect of murdering her own husband, Minnie Wright, that in her search for freeing herself from such an unhappy marriage ends up in exile in jail. Since the protagonist is not part of the dramatic action, secondary characters, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters take the stage to in an unconscious ways “investigate” the crime. By chance or natural aptitude form crime scene investigation, both women notice leads that the men of law ignore, however, different from the classics of Detective fiction, the amateur women do not help to reestablish the order through law enforcement. Right and wrong conceptions proper of the genre are questioned in the play, and based on the motives for the crime, the reader is invited to judge along with the Mrs Hale and Peters how guilty Minnie really is. Such issues about which this research is centered deal with the conventions of the Detective fiction genre and the reviews of the play concerning gender relations. Thus, in order to enrich the research, it will be used the theoretical support of writers, such as, Zolin (2009), Mill (2006), Ozieblo (2008), Sander (1989), among others.