Suspense and Unease in Patricia Highsmith’s <em>Ripliad</em>

This chapter argues that Patricia Highsmith’s most famous character can be regarded as a transatlantic and cross-class invention of the 1950s. The novels featuring Tom Ripley must also be placed in the context of the transnational literary developments of the crime novel and especially the suspense novel. The contribution focuses on the construction of suspense and suggests that the emotional state of unease plays a central role, mainly in the construction and presentation of the protagonist, but also in the impact of the novels on the readers. In contrast to research on the Ripliad so far, this contribution does neither adopt a psychoanalytical approach nor does it focus on emotions that are easily readable: it is routed in narrative theory, explores the subtle emotional state of unease, and thus contributes to affective narratology