ENGL 220 - Detective Fiction

3 Credits: (3 lecture)

Course Description
In this course the student will read, discuss, and write about detective stories and novels from the nineteenth century to the present. The three principle types of detectives and genres of detective fiction will be included: amateur sleuths and puzzle stories, private investigators and hardboiled stories, and police investigators and police procedural stories.

Prerequisite English 101 or permission of instructor.

At least one novel from each of the three genres. 

Objectives
The student will be able to 

A. Discuss the stories and novels he/she reads within the context of the history of detection and the history of crime fiction. 

B. Compare the characteristics of the genres and sub-genres of detective fiction. 

C. Evaluate the fiction he reads according to the unofficial “rules” of crime fiction. 

D. Discuss each detective’s philosophy of investigation, along with that philosophy’s inherent view of the social world, within the context of his/her own personal philosophy of investigation and view of society. 

E. Construct the revealed story, or “back story,” of selected readings. 

F. Evaluate various detective writers according to the student’s perception of those writers’ potential for the lifelong reader. 

Content
A. History of the detective story. 

B. The amateur sleuth and the puzzle story. 

C. The private eye and the hard-boiled story. 

D. The police detective and the police procedural story. 

E. Conflicts between levels of investigation. 

F. The back story/revealed story. 

G. The unofficial rules of “fair play.” 

 

Student Evaluation
Three tests, one on each of the major genres; a minimum of two critical papers; and-as required by the instructor-periodic quizzes, journals, class participation, or oral reports.  

Bibliography
Bruccoli, Matthew J. and Richard Layman, eds. Hardboiled Mystery Writers: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald: A Literary Reference. New York: Carroll and Graf, 1989. 

Herbert, Rosemary, et al. eds. The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. New York: Oxford U P, 1999. 

Knight, Stephen. Detective Fiction, 1800-2000: Detection, Death, Diversity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. 

Priestman, Martin, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1993. 

Rzepka, Charles K. Detective Fiction. Cultural History of Literature series. Malden: Polity/Blackwell, 2005. 

Scaggs, John. Crime Fiction. New Critical Idiom series. New York: Routledge, 2005. 

Symons, Julian. Bloody Murder: From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel. 3rd ed.  New York: Mysterious Press/Warner, 1993. 

Winn, Dilys. Murder Ink: The Mystery Reader’s Companion. New York: Workman, 1984.