Course Description
This course studies the origins and development of crime and detective literature from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. The course traces literature’s responses to and entanglements with crime, violence, detection, forensics, and social justice through a variety of historical and cultural contexts. Some of the questions addressed may include myths about law and order; the rise of urban societies and mass culture; the construction of the figures of detective, witness, criminal, and victim as models of subjectivity; issues of racial, class, gender, and sexual violence; and shifting ideals of justice.
Students will learn about the history of the idea of crime and its relationship with literary form. They will develop an awareness of the contribution of literary thinking to ideas of social justice, as well as a theory of genre and its development over time. They will recognize regional, cultural, and historical differences that affect the intellectual development of literature and detection alike. Finally, a major theme will be learning to relate the practice of detection to both literary analysis and a critical analysis of many contemporary problems, from cancel culture and doxing to fake news stories and conspiracy theories.