Department of English - Valparaiso University

Department of English > Courses > English 200: Literary Studies--Crime Fiction

: Course Descriptions Engl 100: Exposition and Argument Engl 101: English for International Students Engl 200: Literary Studies English 200: Literary Studies--Language, Form, Inspiration English 200: Literary Studies--Crime Fiction English 200: Literary Studies--Utopian/ Dystopian Literature English 200: Literary Studies--Into the Wild English 200: Literary Studies--Banned Books and Novel Ideas English 200: Literary Studies--Horrible Husbands and Wicked Wives English 200: Literary Studies--Innocence and Experience Engl 231: Film Aesthetics Engl 300: Introduction to Professional Writing Engl 301: Introduction to Creative Writing Engl 310: Introduction to Technical Writing Engl 321: Intermediate Composition Engl 365/565*: Studies in American Literature Engl 380/ 580*: Topics in Writing Engl 386: Internship in English Engl 389: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Engl 390/590: Topics in Literature Engl 396/596: Traditions of Giving and Serving in American Life Engl 400: New Literacies, Cultures, and Technologies of Writing Engl 401: American Literature 1 English 402: American Literature 2 Engl 405/505*: Masterpieces of World Literature Engl 408/508: Methods of Literary Criticism and Research Engl 409/509: Literature of the Medieval Period Engl 410/510: Shakespeare Engl 420/520: Literature of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Engl 423: Short Story Writing Engl 424: Poetry Writing Engl 425: Creative Nonfiction Engl 430/530: Literature of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century Eng 431: Advanced Composition Engl 441/541: History of the English Language Engl 442/542: Modern English Grammar Engl 443/543: Introduction to Linguistics Engl 450/550: British Literature of the Nineteenth Century Engl 456: The Novel Engl 460/560: Twentieth-Century Drama Engl 470/570: Twentieth-Century Fiction Engl 475/575: Twentieth Century Poetry Engl 478: Literature for Children Engl 479/ 579: Literature for Adolescents Engl 481: Cooperative Education in English 1 Engl 482-483: Cooperative Education in English II-III Engl 489: The Teaching of English Engl 491: Seminar in Professional Writing Engl 492: Seminar in Writing Engl 493: Seminar in English Engl 495*: Independent Study in English Engl 497: Honors Work in English Engl 498: Honors Candicacy in English Engl 609: Theory and Practice of Expository Writing LS 610: Seminar in Humanities English 610: Studies in Nineteenth-Century British Literature Engl 615: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries Engl 635: Studies in American Literature

ENGLISH 200: LITERARY STUDIES--CRIME FICTION: Professor Feaster, fall 2009, section B, MWF 10:10-11:00 a.m.

This course explores the literary, social, and cultural aspects of fiction that deals with murder and other serious criminal acts.

We will begin with the C. Auguste Dupin stories written by Edgar Allan Poe in the 1840s and a sampling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels from the 1890s, read examples of the classic detective novel as practiced by Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie in the 1930s, and read novels and stories from the so-called "hard-boiled" school of detective fiction of the 1940s represented by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammet. From there we will move to more recent developments—the feminist works of Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton, ethnic novels by Tony Hillerman and Chester Himes, and historical detective fiction by Ellis Peters and Robert Van Gulik or Peter Lovesey. Besides discussing the literary characteristics of crime fiction we will study and discuss the socio-cultural implications of this form of writing and speculate about why it seems to have had such wide popular appeal. We will watch at least one film version of a work we are reading.

Students will write several short papers on our readings, deliver an oral report on an outside assignment, and take a mid-term and a final examination.