Undergraduate Course: The Great Detectives 5 (LLLG07074)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | THIS IS A FOR-CREDIT COURSE OFFERED BY THE OFFICE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING (OLL); ONLY STUDENTS REGISTERED WITH OLL SHOULD BE ENROLLED.
Detective fiction is a fascinating genre because of the sheer multiplicity of novels within it. This course aims to tease out the differing approaches that detective fiction writers have used. We will study one of the first Scandi-crime novels that set the template for discussing crime alongside society in Scandinavian detective fiction. We will also discuss a novel that fictionalises the relationship between Arthur Conan Doyle and a wrongly accused criminal. We will end the course by considering the impact of Norman Mailer's magisterial Executioner's Song in exploring the motivations of a real murderer. |
| Course description |
Week 1 and Week 2: Setting the pace for Scandi-crime: Sjöwall and Wahlöö's Martin Beck.
Text: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö: Roseanna
Week 3 and Week 4: Developing the hard-boiled detective: Sam Spade makes his own justice.
Text: Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon
Week 5 and Week 6: The Creator of a great detective turns detective: Arthur Conan Doyle and the Edalji case.
Text: Julian Barnes: Arthur and George
Week 7 and Week 8: Muriel Spark's 'whydunnit': The Driver's Seat and murder.
Text: Muriel Spark: The Driver's Seat
Week 9 and Week 10: Mailer's Executioner's Song: Crime, consequence and the death penalty.
Text: Norman Mailer: The Executioner's Song
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
* discuss texts confidently;
* assess literature based, to a certain extent, on their own close reading;
* place literature in its historical context;
* explain the various elements of the genre of detective fiction;
* demonstrate a good understanding of how the genre has developed and diversified.
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Reading List
Essential
Sjöwall, Maj and Wahlöö, Per, 2011. Roseanna. London: Fourth Estate.
Hammett, Dashiell, 2011. The Maltese Falcon. London: Thinking Ink.
Barnes, Julian, 2006. Arthur and George. London: Vintage.
Spark, Muriel, 2006. The Driver's Seat. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Mailer, Norman, 1991. The Executioner's Song. London: Vintage.
Recommended
Priestman, Martin ed., 2003. The Cambridge Companion to Detective Fiction. Cambridge: CUP.
Scaggs, John 2005. Crime Fiction. London: Routledge.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
* Close critical reading of passages from texts.
* Small group working.
* Setting literature in historical, social and political context.
* Advance preparation of material for class including work for essays and class discussion.
* Wide reading. Students will be encouraged to work around the subject by reading other detective novels and relevant secondary material. |
| Special Arrangements |
None |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anya Clayworth
Tel:
Email: aclaywor@staffmail.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Sabine Murdoch
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: Sabine.Murdoch@ed.ac.uk |
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