Studies in 20th- and 21st-Century Literature (368-0-20)
Topic
Murder on the Bestseller List
Instructors
Clay Ross Cogswell
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 215: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
Recent bestsellers such as The Girl on the Train are part of a long legacy of wildly popular murder fiction. In the early nineteenth century, murder and other forms of gothic violence were often confined to remote castles or the wilds of the English moors. With the explosion of detective stories and crime fiction, however, these middle-class nightmares invaded both the supposedly blissful domestic scene and the modern city. Writers started to use murder as an occasion to pose radical questions about which deaths are considered "grievable." Increasingly, authors depicted amateur detectives who were skeptical of the social and legal order they were reestablishing through their work. Beginning with founders of the genre Edgar Allen Poe and Pauline Hopkins (author of the first Black murder mystery), this course follows the transatlantic tradition forward through Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled tales, Agatha Christie's mysteries, mid-century psychological thrillers by Patricia Highsmith, and recent detective fiction by Walter Mosley. Paying particular attention to how gender and race shape the narration of these tales, we will conclude with a survey of twenty-first-century chart-toppers by Paula Hawkins and others. Readings will be supplemented with films, including excellent adaptations of The Girl on the Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Please note that this class is not open to students who took an earlier version of this course.
Teaching Method
Seminar discussion.
Evaluation Method
Essays and class participation.
Class Materials (Required)
Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (978-0062073563); Chandler, The Big Sleep (978-0394758282); Hawkins, The Girl on the Train (978-1594634024); Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley (978-0393332148); Mosley, Little Scarlet (eBook: 978-0759511668).
Texts will be available at: Norris Bookstore.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area