Professor Ostrom Spring 2005
English 342—Genre: Fiction (Detective Fiction)
Welcome to English 342. Here is some basic information:
My Office: Wyatt Hall, 336. Office Hours: T-Th, 9:30-11:00 a.m., and by appointment. Phone: x3434 (office & voice mail); x3235 (main English office).
Electronic Mail: ostrom@ups.edu Web-page: www.ups.edu/faculty/ostrom/
An electronic copy of the syllabus will be posted on the web-page.
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English 342 explores not just a genre (fiction) but a sub-genre, one that may seem easily defined but that becomes more mercurial the more it is examined. Among its names are detective fiction, which is, strictly speaking, a part of crime fiction, which is part of mystery fiction. Toss in “thriller” and “spy fiction,” and you see how quickly things connected to this sub-genre become complicated.
For the moment, we’ll let “detective fiction” stand in for all these other terms. Later we’ll sort out the categories within categories.
Customarily, we peg the origin of detective fiction in the United States to when Edgar Allan Poe published “Murders of the Rue Morgue” (1841). Customarily, we also quibble with such an origin and point, for instance, at narratives from mythological and sacred texts that feature crime, detection, and punishment. Or we might mention in passing that a play like Hamlet is, on its way to becoming a tragedy, an engaging detective story. Fairly soon we will consider Dorothy Sayers’ essay, “Aristotle on Detective Fiction,” which obviously links the subgenre to classical times.
Disagreements about origins pale in comparison to those concerning the essential value of detective fiction and how to interpret such fiction. Many people attach the descriptors “pulp,” “popular,” “category,” and “whodunnit” to the noun “fiction” intending to derogate. They contend that such fiction is “formulaic,” but we might note that much of even the most esteemed literature involves formulae, including the sonnet and Shakespearian comedy. They contend that such fiction is meant to be read only once, and yet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of Sherlock Holmes, for example, are arguably among the most re-read literature on the planet. Other readers praise the remarkable resilience of detective fiction over the last 160 years; they highlight the artfulness and style to be found in works by Conan Doyle, Chandler, Rendell, and others; they suggest that such fiction constitutes an unusual if not unique lens through which to look at contemporary society; and they question the premise that “popular” necessarily means “inferior” or “non-literary.” Indeed, still others regard detective fiction to be as complex as “literary fiction,” and they apply a range of theoretical and critical approaches to it.
In this course, we will join the fray, discussing origins and development, probing boundaries between “popular” and “literary”: Does popular mean unliterary? Does literary mean unpopular? We will read detective novels (and short stories) as complex, pleasurable narratives that have occupied intriguing niches in different societies for some time now. We will read some secondary material and explore issues of culture, publishing history, gender, class, technology, psychology, and ethnicity that dovetail with this sub-genre, and we will study the sub-genre to learn more about the overarching genre of “the novel.” We will critically examine a type of writing that clearly appeals to “the connoisseur” and consider the implications of that. That is to say, we will become textual detectives.
As we do the work of textual detection, we’ll ask why this kind of fiction has become so appealing to such a wide variety of readers, young and old, academic and general, across the generations since the mid-1800s. We will also chart its evolution, its variations and permutations. We will begin with Poe’s story from 1841 and conclude with a novel published in 2004.
In addition to exploring detective fiction in the Anglo-American tradition, we will read a Swedish novel and a French novel, both in translation, to get a sense of the genre’s international flavor.
So caveat emptor: We will not be reading detective fiction merely “for plot” and “for fun,” even as questions concerning plot and pleasure are richly intriguing in the study of detective fiction.
Suspects, Usual and Otherwise
The books, which will be supplemented with some photocopied stories, are as follows:
Agatha Christie, The Clocks. First published 1963. Berkley Mystery edition. Although this was published later in Christie’s career, it exhibits the main characteristics of “Golden Age” detective fiction of the 1920s and 1930s.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. First published 1892. Penguin Edition. Conan Doyle officially introduced Holmes in 1887 with a novella, but the Adventures, published in book-form five years later, comprise some of Conan Doyle’s best Holmes tales, and they round out the characters of Holmes and Watson.
Rudolph Fisher, The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem. First published 1932. University of Michigan edition. This is thought to be the first detective-novel published by an African American. It is an important literary work from the Harlem Renaissance, and it occupies a place in the tradition of “the private eye.”
Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear. First published 1943. Penguin edition. Greene is a major twentieth-century British author. In this book, he improvises upon aspects of the “thriller,” detective fiction, and espionage fiction.
Henning Mankell, Side-Tracked: A Kurt Wallander Mystery. Originally published in Swedish, Stockholm (1995). Translated, Vintage Crime edition. Mankell is an internationally acclaimed contemporary mystery-writer.
Mansfield-Kelley and Marchino, editors, The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction. Longman, 2004. An anthology of stories, with some critical essays. It includes work from classic (Hammett, Chandler, Sayers, Queen, et al.) and contemporary (Grafton, Haywood, Hillerman, et al.) writers.
Ruth Rendell, The Babes in the Wood. Vintage/Black Lizard edition, 2004. Rendell is one of the most respected mystery-writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her books blend aspects of Golden Age detective-fiction with those of the police-procedural, and they are alert to contemporary social issues.
George Simenon, Maigret and the Burglar’s Wife. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. Simenon was one of the most prolific mystery-writers, and he remains extraordinarily popular. His detective, Jules Maigret, is an eccentric, unique character.
Here are some guidelines to which all of us should try to adhere. None of them will be surprising to you or difficult for us to follow. Indeed, I hope they’ll seem familiar, even obvious, but sometimes it’s good to reaffirm the familiar. All are aimed at creating a productive, workable environment.
than plot—as noted above. We shall apply the same rigorous reading
(and writing) methods to the fiction in this course as we would to that in
any other 300-level literature course.
Just the Facts: Tasks and Grading
Two essays: approximately 50 per cent, total.
Two tests: approximately 20 per cent, total.
One detailed outline of your own detective novel,
produced and presented collaboratively: approximately 10 per cent
Attendance, participation, and written
response(s) to films: approximately 20 per cent, total.
This schedule is detailed, but it is subject to change. Bring it to class each time so that you may note any changes.
Wednesday, January 19. Overview of the course. Some writing. Distribute copies of the chronology. Some writing. Discussing your experience with detective fiction. Distribute photocopy of excerpt from A Study in Scarlet.
Friday, January 21. For today, bring the chronology. Origins of detective fiction. In the anthology, read the essay, “Murder at Large,” by John Ball and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” by Poe. In Conan Doyle, read “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Read excerpt (photocopied) from A Study in Scarlet. . Dupin as precursor to Holmes. Holmes: template of “the private investigator” and/or of “the amateur detective”? The various meanings of “private” and “amateur.” Holmes: artist, addict, scientist? Watson as narrative device. Intellect vs. sensation. Stability vs. chaos.
Monday, January 24. For today, in the anthology, please read the essay by Maida and Spornick on pp. 29-38, as well as “Silver Blaze” by Conan Doyle, “The Witness for the Prosecution,” by Agatha Christie,” and “The House in Goblin Wood,” by John Dickson Carr.
Wednesday, January 26. The professor briefly summarizes W.H. Auden’s and Dorothy Sayers’ ideas about crime fiction. For today, in the anthology, please read “The Haunted Policeman,” by Dorothy Sayers, “Deborah’s Judgement,” by Margaret Maron, “Nine Lives to Live,” by Sharyn McCrumb,” and “Cold Turkey,” by Diane Mott Davidson.
Friday, January 28. Getting serious about Holmes. In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, please read “A Case of Identity,” “The Red-Headed League,” and “The Speckled Band.” Consider themes of identity, “otherness,” gender, and anxiety. If we read the character of Holmes figuratively, as a condensation of things going on in society, what conclusions may we draw? Using Holmes’s technique (concentrating on particular, even ordinary details), analyze Holmes. (Start reading Agatha Christie’s novel, please.)
Monday, January 31. Final Holmesian solutions: In the anthology, please read “Silver Blaze,” by Conan Doyle. In the Adventures, please read “The Boscombe Valley Mystery,” “The Engineer’s Thumb,” and “The Copper Beeches.” Narrative point of view. City vs. country. Is Holmes a professional or an amateur or . . . .? What is your experience of Holmes and Watson?
Wednesday, February 2. DVD: Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.
Friday, February 4. Aspects of “Golden Age” crime fiction: Christie. Please read The Clocks, through page 116. What kind of society does Christie concentrate on? How does she deploy the “genius detective”? What surprises you about the way she structures the narrative? What do you make of Colin Lamb? Contrast narrative point of view in Christie with that in the Holmes stories. One-half page response to DVD due.
Monday, February 7. Please read the rest of The Clocks. What do you think of this Golden Age “puzzle”? Contrast Poirot with Holmes. Start reading The Conjure-Man Dies.
Wednesday, February 9. Private, professional investigations and hard-boiledness. The function of “toughness”—literary, personal, and social. In the anthology, please read the essay, “The Simple Art of Murder,” by Raymond Chandler. Also read the stories, “The Gutting of Couffignal,” by Dashiell Hammett, and “Trouble is My Business,” by Raymond Chandler. The professor summarizes George Grella’s analysis of hard-boiled detective-fiction.
Friday, February 11. . For today, please read The Conjure Man Dies, through page 140. Contrast Fisher’s Harlem with Conan Doyle’s London & English countryside and with Christie’s world.
Monday, February 14. For today, in the anthology, please read “The Parker Shotgun,” by Sue Grafton, “Skin Deep,” by Sara Paretsky, and “And Pray Nobody Sees You,” by Gar Anthony Haywood. Gender and hard-boiledness. American violence.
Wednesday, February 16. For today, please finish The Conjure Man Dies.
Friday, February 18. Bring in your thoughts about “the police.” The rise of the modern “police force.” The professor summarizes D.A. Williams on “the novel and the police.” Have you watched a “police drama” on television with any regularity? If so, summarize its appeal (Law and Order, NYPD Blue, CSI, etc.). In the anthology, please read the essay by LeRoy Lad Panek on pp. 341-357. Also please read “The Hunt Ball,” by Freeman Wills Crofts,” “Inspector Maigret Deduces,” by Georges Simenon, and “Sadie When She Died,” by Ed McBain.
Monday, February 21. For today, please read, in the anthology, the stories by Hillerman, Rankin, Howard, and Robinson, pp. 411-474.
Wednesday, February 23. For today, please read half of Maigret and the Burglar’s Wife. If the character of Holmes says something about Victorian/Edwardian England, what does the character of Maigret say about 20th century France? Contrast French society, as depicted in this novel, with American society, as depicted by Fisher, Chandler, Hammett, Grafton, et al. What is Maigret’s method?
Friday, February 25. Please read the rest of Maigret and the Burglar’s Wife. Essay assigned, discussed.
Monday, February 28. Characteristics of the “thriller” and the “spy novel.” States of mind vs. the state. Detection and espionage. Justice and patriotism. Please read The Ministry of Fear, by Graham Greene, through page 50.
Wednesday, March 2. Please read The Ministry of Fear, through page 108. Essay assigned, discussed.
Friday, March 4. Please finish reading The Ministry of Fear. Review for test.
Monday, March 7. Test.
Wednesday, March 9. Complete rough draft of essay due in class.
Friday, March 11. Video: an episode from Granada Television’s/BBC production of the Maigret series, starring Michael Gambon.
Monday, March 21. For today, please read The Babes in the Wood, through chapter 7. Contrast Rendell with Doyle, Christie, and others. One-half page response to Maigret episode due.
Wednesday, March 23. Essay due. We begin the novel-outlining project.
Friday, March 25. Guest speaker.
Monday, March 28. Please read The Babes in the Wood, through Chapter 16.
Wednesday, March 30. Please finish reading The Babes in the Wood.
Friday, April 1. For today, in the anthology, please read the stories by Jan Burke, Ellery Queen, and S.J. Rozan. Start reading Side-Tracked, please.
Monday, April 4. For today, you and your partner should bring in detailed notes about your novel-outline—the detective, the crime, the setting, the suspects, the implicit and explicit social-issues, the plot. Workshop on the novel-outline.
Wednesday, April 6. For today, please read Side-Tracked, through page 130. Sign up for presentations of outlines.
Friday, April 8. DVD: The Maltese Falcon.
Monday, April 11. Please read Side-Tracked through page 245.
Wednesday, April 13. DVD: The Maltese Falcon.
Friday, April 15. Please finish reading Side-Tracked. Essay assigned and discussed.
Monday, April 18. Review for test. E. One-half page response to The Maltese Falcon due.
Wednesday, April 20. Presentations of outlines.
Friday, April 22. Presentations of outlines.
Monday, April 25. Test.
Wednesday, April 27. Presentations of outlines.
Friday, April 29. Rough draft of essay due.
Monday, May 2. Presentations of outlines.
Wednesday, May 4. Essay due.
The Adventure Concludes.