Autistic Detectives undertakes the task of interpreting the recent surge of neurodivergent, particularly autistic coded, detective figures in British and American contemporary crime fiction (~1980-present) to reveal the rising obsession with certain socially-sanctioned visions of disability. Ever since the appearance of Auguste Dupin (1841) and Sherlock Holmes (1887), the trope of the eccentric-but-brilliant detective has persisted for over a century and a half; in the last few decades, with the increased cultural visibility of autism, these characters have been reconsidered to be on the spectrum. The term neurodivergent, as Nick Walker puts it, refers to “a mind that functions in ways which diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of ‘normal.’” I argue that the detective genre is imperative to understanding popular culture’s relationship with neurodiversity today, as the tradition of (supposedly) autistic traits in detective characters has become so common that we no longer attend to them. Ironically, a neurodivergent mind has become the “norm” within the genre.It is my contention that within the archetypical detective figure reposes a deep reliance on the appeal of neurobehavioral difference, either explicitly diagnosed or socio-culturally cued. This difference is often used as an indicator of their cognitive superpowers, including their ability to connect with—and find—the killer. Detective fantasy dictates that the more eccentric a detective hero, the more ingenious. Usually, this is conveyed through a number of shared detective characteristics that not-so-coincidentally overlap with stereotyped representations of autistic traits in popular media: an “outsider” status, derived from some kind of social awkwardness; a certain brand of emotional distance; and, most importantly, the unique and extraordinary way their brain operates. Many disability scholars and communities have articulated the danger of such biased representations as repeating deeply problematic autism myths. Yet these valuable critiques also risk missing a crucial dimension of these cultural moments. As I argue, detective fiction (both in print and on screens) invites us to rewrite the neurodivergent protagonist as not only a “supercrip” subject to the exceptionalism of autistic savants, but also as a spacious site for productive intervention. This project investigates patterns of autistic representation and their resultant audience responses—emerging across popular forums like Reddit and Quora, digital texts like blogs and memes, and Kindle Popular Highlights—to illuminate various modes of engagement and friction. As a way of exploring, it integrates tools of narrative theory, genre studies, applied cognitive science, and data mining to model a new method for analyzing popular detective characteristics. I begin by revealing the recent trend in contemporary popular detective fiction: centering the story arc around the emotional development of a detective on the spectrum. Moving away from outdated narrativizations of autistic traits—defined by social isolation and lack of empathy—such fictional characters not only provide a capacity to disrupt and push against the historical and cultural stereotypes surrounding autism, but also offer a safe(r) space for fans, reviewers, scholars, psychiatrists, and scientists (whether neurotypical or neurodivergent) to experiment with the idea of autism far beyond medical diagnosis.
Read
