Detective Fiction
Class Information
Instructor: Ziser, Michael
CRN: 51405
Time: TWR 2:10-3:50
Location: 1130 Bainer
GE Areas: Writing Experience
Description
Detective Fiction: Crime and Punishment
Crime is terribly revealing. --Agatha Christie
This summer course will critically explore classic literary and cinematic representations of crime, punishment, detection, and jurisprudence. Subjects will include the criminal underworld, the changing figure of the detective, the rise of the state-sanctioned police force, the criminal psychopath, and the emergence of the trial as a literary setting, among other topics. Grades (see below) will be based on 1) weekly engagement (attendance, participation, and attention to readings [measured by quizzes and discussion posts]; 2) occasional additional projects (in-class presentation and a few short assignments); and 3) a final analytical or creative project (~10pp). No midterm or final exam. Tuesday lectures and student presentations will cover background materials for the week; Wednesdays will be used to screen relevant films, documentaries, and other media; and Thursdays will be devoted to in-depth discussion of the main weekly readings.
Grading
10% Attendance and Participation
10% Discussion Posts (5x2%)
10% In-Class Presentation
10% Weekly Quizzes (5 x 2%; out of 6: skip one or drop lowest)
30% Short Assignments (any 3 x 10%)
30% Final Paper/Project (10pp or equivalent)
Texts
Oedipus the King, Sophocles
The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I, Arthur Conan Doyle
Gang Leader for a Day , Sudhir Venkatesh
The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
And Then There Were None , Agatha Christie
The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
The Postman Always Rings Twice , James M. Cain
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
The Killer Inside Me , Jim Thompson
A Rage in Harlem , Chester Himes
Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosley
Anatomy of a Murder , Robert Traver