Özet:

The detective fiction genre undergoes a radical change along with the thematic and structural innovations brought about by postmodernism in the second half of the twentieth century. The most recognisable changes are inconclusive endings with no resolution eager characters and vain engagement in certain incidents though there is no crime to be investigated, and the reader's newly assigned role i.e. that of the detective. The aim of this paper is to explore Peter Ackroyd's Chatterton with regard to the changing features of the detective genre. Chatterton is not labelled a pure example of detective fiction despite various use of thematic and structural elements exclusive to this genre. Ackroyd reshapes and employs the conventional components of detective fiction according to his authorial needs. Thus the focus of this paper is on Ackroyd’s reformulation of traditional detective fiction in Chatterton. The emphasis is on structural and thematic affinities and differences between traditional and contemporary detective novels. The analysis is mainly based on the intertextual representation of the perception of the real and the unreal.