ABSTRACT
A discussion of crime fiction and the future may be approached through two different, though closely related, perspectives. The first concerns the developments of the genre in the face of changes in society and culture. The second investigates the network of contacts, contaminations, hybridisations and cross-relations that have evolved over time between two kinds of narratives—crime fiction and science fiction—that appear to be connected in many ways. The 1930s represented a key moment for the two genres. Both crime fiction and science fiction were originally defined by a specific and quite strict thematic and stylistic “grammar”, a code that was expected to be honoured by the authors and understood by the public. It is tempting to distinguish between the two genres according to the way speculation is oriented temporally: Respectively, towards the past and its present consequences in crime fiction, and towards the future and its present possibilities in science fiction.
