ABSTRACT
As Gomel (1999: 34-35) puts it, “[m]urder, a supremely irrational act, generates the most rational of all literary genres, the classic detective story”, and “if all murder has a kernel of irrational mystery, serial murder appears to be irrationality squared”. It is that irrationality of the multiple murderous acts in contrast to the ‘rationality’ or formulaic regularity (discussed in Gregoriou, 2007a) of the fi ctional serial killer narrative that makes the genre particularly appealing. According to Haut (1999: 3), the fi ctionalisation of crime has not only become a favourite pastime, but also a means of analysing society. By producing and consuming stories about murder, and multiple murders at that, we fi nd out more about ourselves, what our values and beliefs are, what ideologies we have and share. Haut also later argues that not only the genre remains “an integral part of the cultural narrative”, but its very function is to “critique the culture” (Haut, 1999: 226) in return. And that is why analysing fi ctional serial killer narratives can help us assess, even ultimately evaluate our lives, standards and morals in return. The rest of this chapter is devoted to a close examination of the language, identities and ideologies portrayed in Lindsay’s much-acclaimed Dexter book series, Moore and Campbell’s celebrated From Hell graphic novel, and the related screen adaptations of each, in an attempt to uncover these very viewpoints.
