True Detection

by Gary J. Shipley, Edia Connole, Nicola Masciandaro

A collection of philosophical and critical essays on the television series True Detective. "Traditionally, the detective genre deals with the problem of epistemology - how to know something that one doesn't know. There are some things we cannot know, and some things we should not know. Sometimes clues just give way to more clues, and epistemic tedium rules the day. These essays reveal knowledge becoming an enigma to itself, revealing the brilliant futility of the epistemological project." - Eugene Thacker, author of In The Dust of This Planet "The television event of the year - I would say many years - is without doubt True Detective. One deserving of forensic, unflinching, and unrelenting philosophical treatment." - Simon Critchley "The most intelligent series in TV history has opened strange crypts for explorers. This excellent essay collection reveals just how far the dark tunnels lead. Let it coax you from the comforts of death and fear, into detection of the guttering nightmare that is life, coldly seen." - Nick Land CONTENTS I. Black Stars Gary J. Shipley - Monster at the End: Pessimism's Locked Rooms and Impossible Crimes Edia Connole - Contemplating the Crucifixion: Cohle and Divine Gloom Nicola Masciandaro - I Am Not Supposed To Be Here: Birth and Mystical Detection II. Separate From Itself Fintan Neylan - The Labour of the Pessimist: Detecting Expiration's Artifice Paul J. Ennis - The Atmospherics of Consciousness Ben Woodard - Nothing Grows in the Right Direction: Scaling the Life of the Negative III. There Was A Videotape Niall McCann - True Detective, Jean-Luc Godard and Our Image Culture: 'This May Well be Heaven, this Hell Smells the Same' Daniel Fitzpatrick - 'True Dick' . . . The Accelerated Acceptance and Premature Canonisation of True Detective IV. It's Just One Story Scott Wilson - The Nonsense of Detection: Truth Between Science and the Real Erin K. Stapleton - The Corpse is the Territory: The Body of Dora Kelly Lange in True Detective Caoimhe Doyle & Katherine Foyle - The Flat Devil Net: Mapping Quantum Narratives in True Detective Daniel Colucciello Barber - Affect Has No Story V. And Closure-No, No, No Dominic Fox - koyntly bigyled Charlie Blake, Daniel Colucciello Barber, Edia Connole, Paul J. Ennis, Gary J. Shipley - Bird Trap Edge to Edge Caoimhe Doyle & Katherine Foyle - The Chole Story

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Film, Essays

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Gary J. Shipley is a writer and philosopher based in the UK. He has published work in various philosophy journals and literary journals.

Reviews

[Michael Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

After beginning with a few nods to Poe and A. Christie, the author begins the hard work of tracing the genealogy of the hard-boiled detective. On page 37 of my edition, the following words will help the beginning reader:

"In this reading (those who acknowledge Raymond Chandler incorporates myth and legend into his work)...classical katabasis merged with the grail quest to produce the knightly attitude that would become the principle characteristic of the hard-boiled detective."

On the author's reading, the quest is its own purpose. To be in pursuit is the fundamental condition of the knight-errant. Unlike those who labor or those who serve a well delineated social function, the knight-errant seeks adventures. They are, so to speak, his calling. And it is an occupation for males.

[Martin Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The words are so rich, like maple sap dripping off the page. Its a massage, workout, and a seduction for your brain all at once.

[Uxküll · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays primarily engaged in a direct style with the first season of the HBO series "True Detective". A must read for anyone hungering after philosophical elucidations on what is surely one of the greatest Television series in its genre if not the medium as a whole. Most of the essays speak directly to the source material and illuminates or problematizes it in some fascinating manner.

The most thought-provoking essays for myself were: Gary J. Shipley's "Monster at the End", Nicola Masciandaro's "I am not supposed to be here", Ben Woodard's "Nothing grows in the right direction", Scott Wilson's "The Nonsense of Detection", and last but certainly not least Erin K. Stapleton's "The Corpse is the Territory".