This seminar will introduce students to the genre of American crime and mystery fiction and look at the reasons for the fascination of American literature and culture with crime, mystery and violence. Previous to the discussion of our primary texts, students become familiar with terms and theoretical concepts important for the analysis of crime fiction. Through reading/analyzing a series of short stories and two novels, this seminar will investigate traditions and developments of the genre and look at some of its sub-genres like detective story or noir. We will start with short stories from the 19th century by Edgar Allan Poe, who is often seen as the “founding father” of American crime/mystery fiction. After these early examples, we will look at developments like the emergence of hard-boiled narratives in the twentieth century, for example in stories by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, before we explore recent trends in late 20th century texts, especially innovations to the genre by female writers. Questions for class discussion will be for example: Is crime fiction conservative because of its tendency to restore the status-quo by solving the crime and punishing the perpetrator or is there potential for subversion? How is violence represented in the texts? How are sex/gender and race/ethnicity represented in the texts?
Please buy the following novels:
McCarthy, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. New York: Vintage, 2006. (ISBN: 9780307277039)
Auster, Paul. City of Glass. London: Penguin, 1987. (ISBN: 9780140097313)
The short stories as well as a selection of secondary literature will be made available in form of a reader.
Requirements:
Class participation, including reading assignments and discussion, a short presentation in class and a seminar paper.
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