Seminar in Reading and Interpretation (300-0-20)
Topic
Murder on the Bestseller List
Instructors
Adam Cody Syvertsen
Meeting Info
University Library 3322: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM
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, 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.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Attendance at 1st class mandatory