The paper examines the intricate balance within ecological systems, focusing on the interaction between human activities and natural environments. It highlights indigenous communities as guardians of invaluable knowledge and traditions, despite often facing marginalisation. Using Rob Nixon's concept of ‘slow violence’ in ecocriticism, the paper explores the gradual and imperceptible environmental degradation and injustice occurring over extended periods. Through a socio-ecological analysis of the Netflix India series Kaala Paani, set in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the paper reveals the subtle yet profound impacts of environmental degradation on inhabitants’ lives. It delves into indigenous practices such as environmental conservation, sustainable resource management, and biodiversity preservation, emphasising the importance of recognizing their contributions to the ecological landscape amidst ongoing environmental challenges.

Detective stories depend on the depiction of mysterious characters unraveling complex mysteries. This research investigates the development of the detective archetype through an examination of how memories and personal histories of iconic figures such as Sherlock Holmes and Lisbeth Salander have been depicted from past works to present-day stories. The archetype of the Intellectual detective who uses memory and deductive logic to solve mysteries was first introduced in the early detective literature through Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin stories. Sherlock Holmes continued to enhance this custom by utilizing precise recollection and systematic techniques in solving crimes. His skill in piecing together past events from incomplete evidence established a standard for future fictional investigators. On the other hand, modern pieces such as Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series present figures such as Lisbeth Salander, whose troubled background and intricate personal story give a new meaning to the detective stereotype. Salander’s storytelling delves into topics such as trauma, identity, and societal exclusion, mirroring contemporary cultural trends towards more complex depictions of investigators.This paper examines how the portrayal of memory and personal history in detective fiction has changed over time, shifting from using memory as a cognitive aid to delving into themes of trauma and identity in current works. This research helps to explain the impact of memory on the formation of characters and complexity of storylines in detective fiction.

This paper examines the evolution of the detective character within the context of surveillance society focusing on Sherlock Holmes as a case study. Tracing the shift from the Panopticon model of centralized observation to the Panspectron model of distributed and pervasive surveillance, this study explores how advancements in surveillance technologies and methodologies have influenced Holmes’s role, methods, and ethical boundaries. By analyzing Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories and their contemporary adaptations in the BBC series Sherlock, this paper highlights Holmes’s liminal position between the observer and the observed, authority and vanity. The research explores how modern iterations of Holmes navigate the blurring lines between public and private spaces. Furthermore, it investigates the impact of surveillance capitalism on Holmes’s quest for truth and justice, questioning whether the proliferation of surveillance technologies has aided or hindered his mission. By bridging surveillance studies and detective fiction, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis of Sherlock Holmes’s adaptation to the evolving terrain of surveillance culture.

My discussion aims to pursue a feminist critique of Anti-Semitism in Agatha Christie’s fiction A Murder Is Announced from the Jewish feminist perspective of Adrienne Rich. Christie’s novel thoroughly explores how gender, culture, and ethnicity shape identity. Adrienne Rich’s feminist perspective allows us to delve deeper into the implications of these intersecting identities. Christie shows in her fiction how the identity of a Jewish girl, Mitzi, is shaped by the intersectionality of her gender and ethnicity. In feminist discourse, intersectionality is crucial for understanding how overlapping identities impact individuals’ experiences. The girl’s position as a Jewish woman highlights the compounded discrimination she faces: not only is she navigating the societal prejudices against Jews, but she also endures the limitations imposed on her by her gender. My contention is to show how Christie provides an open narrative space where the girl resists such a dual marginalization. By following Rich’s Jewish feminist perspective, I intend to discuss how the girl finds complexity in recognizing her identity and feels a split between her inherited Jewish origin and borrowed Gentile culture. She embodies a blend of influences that shape her worldview and interactions. She reflects the complexities of identity shaped by gender, culture, and ethnicity. Besides, I would like to discuss how the culture of Anti-Semitism endorses mainstream feminism to pursue prejudiced practices of discrimination based on the racial identity of the women who belong to marginalized groups.

The possibilities of the police procedural in 21st-century Bengal have been effectively re-informed by the emergence of Supratim Sarkar’s Lalbazar narratives, featuring accounts of true criminal investigations carried out by the Detective Department of the Kolkata Police, compiled for the first time by a real-life police officer on active duty with the approval of the Lalbazar top brass. These accounts, presented on public demand through popular narrative techniques, report cases which are significant as regards public fascination as well as the institutional excellence and efficiency of the Detective Department. The colonially-rooted activities of the Department are acknowledged and separated from its roles as an investigating authority post-Independence through two separate series, namely Achena/Adekha Lalbazar and Goyendapith Lalbazar. At the same time, Sarkar critically distinguishes between real-life criminal investigations and fictional ones while incorporating those attributes which characterize postcolonial vernacular popular crime writing. The significance of the Lalbazar narratives in the context of this paper lies in its reflection of these postcolonial deliberations in the attempts at recontextualizing the history of the Department, reinstating the ‘reality’ of criminal investigation as well as catering to the popular cultural ethos. Initiating the case with an overview of ‘glocal’ trends in South Asian crime writing, this article will examine the cultural relocation of the Bengali police procedural in the 21st century with regard to Sarkar’s narratives. By examining Sarkar’s role as an omniscient narrator, this paper will attempt to culturally re-situate the Detective Department as regards its two opposite histories. Finally, this paper will examine the narrative techniques, genre-bending attributes and cultural intertexts in the Lalbazar narratives which render them a popular mode of crime writing associated with the dynamics of history, thrill and instruction vis-à-vis present-day readership and popular culture.