Doctor Criminale

Style and Technique

Malcolm Bradbury's style in «Doctor Criminale» is distinguished by refined irony, permeated with subtle satire of the academic and political life of late twentieth-century Europe. The language of the novel is multilayered: the author skillfully combines intellectual play with light, almost weightless prose, rich in allusions, cultural references, and witty dialogue. Bradbury virtuously employs postmodern techniques—from playful shifts in narrative perspective to deliberate genre-blending, where detective intrigue is organically intertwined with philosophical reflections on the nature of truth and myth. The structure of the novel resembles a complex mosaic: the narrative unfolds through alternating scenes, changes in pace and mood, and the protagonist's inner monologues, creating the effect of an intellectual labyrinth in which the reader must seek their own answers. Bradbury deftly uses irony, parody, and grotesque to expose the contradictions of contemporary society, and his language, saturated with metaphors and subtle observations, turns each paragraph into a self-contained artistic statement.