Mystery Fiction

For this
course, we will be reading, explicating, and analyzing prose fiction, focusing
on the sub-genre of fiction known as mystery, detective novel, or crime novel,
giving most of our attention to seminal hard-boiled detective stories and the
style known as roman noir, as well as to books that play off of this type of
fiction, in the form of parody, or by integrating other sub-genres, such as the
historical novel and science fiction. No matter what form of mystery story we
read and discuss, we will focus on time-tested story

elements
such as PLOT, POINT OF VIEW, CHARACTER, and SETTING, VOICE, and THEME, and the
various ways in which NARRATIVE is constructed. We will also explore the
popularity and literary value of this sub-genre, and, especially in the case of
roman noir and its cinematic equivalent, film noir, we will examine what these
stories say about contemporary culture. Sophomore literature courses are
designed to foster critical thinking. I hope to accomplish this via the
intersection of class discussions, informal drafts and formal writing. For this
reason, course work will include several (4-5) response papers, two formal
essays (including a revision of one of them). There will also be a midterm
(which covers the first half of the course); and a final (which covers the
second half). This is a discussion-based class, so attendance and participation
are important components.

Required texts (available through Revolution Books):
Chandler, Raymond. THE BIG SLEEP; Ellroy, James. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL;
Kirino, Natsuo. OUT;
and Lehane, Dennis. MYSTIC RIVER. There will also be a course reader, featuring
short fiction by authors such as Dashiell Hammett, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar
Allan Poe, Georges Simenon, Louise Erdrich, Michael Chabon, Thomas Pynchon,
Scott Turow, Dennis Lehane, and Joyce Carol Oates