Priyanath Mukhopadhyay (also referred to as PM subsequently) enjoyed an extraordinary career in the colonial police force in Calcutta, where he served as a detective from 1878 to 1911. In his later life, he wrote as a bhadralok and a detective—both important parts of his fashioned self-identity—using narratives of crime to showcase his rare professional expertise and his responsibilities as a cultured upholder of the law. Through an examination of Priyanath’s serialized police tales, it is possible to see how crime writing forged the values of respectability and civic sensibilities, and shaped the moral fiber of an urban society that appeared to be falling apart at its seams. Examining criminal activities in colonial Calcutta as recoverable from PM’s writings affords glimpses of a city being reordered by its material wealth, social aspirations, and moral attitudes. PM’s tales attempt to face this challenge by forging a moral authority in the finely calibrated colonial order. His readers too were evidently invested in it as they endorsed this stand with their purse, leading to soaring circulation figures. The middle classes of Calcutta emerge in these tales as part and parcel of Priyanath’s policing, providing neighborhood and community surveillance networks and backing up the efforts of their detective hero. PM wrote very much as a social commentator as well as a police officer, reaffirming traditional social and domestic values, and frowning upon transgression of class and gender boundaries. What also comes alive is the city itself—the spaces laid bare or concealed by crime—the writing providing access to different topographies of urban knowledge and information networks.

中文翻译：

---

绅士和侦​​探的成长：来自殖民地大都市的犯罪、尊严和监视的故事

Priyanath Mukhopadhyay（后来也称为 PM）在加尔各答殖民地警察部队中享有非凡的职业生涯，从 1878 年到 1911 年担任侦探。在他的晚年生活中，他以 bhadralok 和侦探的身份写作——两者都是重要的角色他塑造的自我认同——利用犯罪叙事来展示他罕见的专业知识和他作为有文化的法律维护者的责任。通过审视普里亚纳特的连载警察故事，我们可以看到犯罪小说如何塑造了受人尊敬和公民情感的价值观，并塑造了一个似乎正在分崩离析的城市社会的道德纤维。审查加尔各答殖民地的犯罪活动是否可以从总理的著作中恢复，可以让我们看到这座城市正在因其物质财富、社会愿望、和道德态度。首相的故事试图通过在精心校准的殖民秩序中建立道德权威来应对这一挑战。他的读者显然也对此投入了精力，他们用钱包支持这个立场，导致发行量飙升。加尔各答的中产阶级在这些故事中出现，成为普里亚纳特治安的重要组成部分，提供邻里和社区监控网络，并支持他们的侦探英雄的努力。总理的写作很大程度上是作为一名社会评论员和一名警察，重申了传统的社会和家庭价值观，并对违反阶级和性别界限表示不满。同样活跃起来的是城市本身——被犯罪暴露或隐藏的空间——这些文字提供了获取城市知识和信息网络的不同地形的途径。