English 242 is intended to encourage and develop practices of critical interpretation in the reading of fiction. In this class we will train our critical lens towards the various historical incarnations of one of popular fiction’s most resilient genres: the detective narrative. From Sherlock Holmes, to Batman, to Veronica Mars, detective stories are a ubiquitous cultural force. As a genre, these fictions are primarily concerned with the discovery of a necessary truth (the criminal act) and the various means and methods by which that truth can be brought to light (the investigation). Locating this genre within a critical history, then, means investigating the cultural assumptions around human knowledge, criminal guilt and justice. How can the criminal be identified according to these texts? How do the rise of sciences like psychology and genetics effect how the criminal is defined? How are categories of race and gender constructed as a part of the criminal investigation? In working within these fields, we will also ask how these texts implicitly critique the genre’s reliance on truth and certainty. Our particular mode of interpretation will hopefully allow us to see these fictions as both emerging from specific contexts and responding to those contexts in complex ways.
This class is primarily discussion based and daily participation will constitute a significant amount of you’re the total grade. In addition, English 242 offers a “W” writing credit. Students will write two 5-7 page papers over the course of the quarter and will have opportunities to revise their writing based on instructor comments. Students should also be prepared for up to 150 pages a week of reading in literature, history and popular culture.
Reading List:

Selections From (not to be ordered by the bookstore):
Christie, Agatha. Thirteen Problems. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1973.
Doyle, Arthur Conan, and Christopher Morley. The Complete Sherlock Holmes. New York: Doubleday, 1930.
Kern, Stephen. A Cultural History of Causality Science, Murder Novels, and Systems of Thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.
Poe, Edgar Allan, and James Albert Harrison. The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: AMS Press, 1965.
Sayers, Dorothy L. Whose Body? New York: HarperPaperbacks, 1994.


Film:
Ford, Harrison, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. Bladerunner. [London?]: Warner Bros, 1996.

Towne, Robert, Roman Polanski, Robert Evans, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, Diane Ladd, John Huston, and John Hillerman. Chinatown. Widescreen DVD collection. Hollywood, CA: Paramount, 1999.

Texts:

• Auster, Paul. City of Glass. Contemporary American fiction. Penguin Books, 1987. [9780140097313]
• Chandler, Raymond. The Long Goodbye. Vintage crime/Black Lizard, 1992. [9780394757681]
• Conrad, Joseph. The Secret Agent. Oxford University Press, 2004. [9780393028546]
• Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress. Norton, 1990. [9780393028546]