FYS 335: Watching the Detectives

This course explores one of most enduring popular forms of American fiction, the detective story.  From the hard-boiled private eye Sam Spade to the Navajo tribal police detective Jim Chee to the chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the literary detective has been continuously reinvented.  Driven by two of America's most distinguishing characteristics, ingenuity and violence, the detective genre variously engages one of our culture's most cherished ideals – individualism.  By focusing on the literary and cinematic reinvention of the detective, this course considers how the genre has evolved to represent American culture. 

Course Texts and Resources

Required Reading

Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. New York: Vintage, 1988. (ISBN 0394758285)

Cornwell, Patricia. Postmortem. New York: Pocket, 2003. (ISBN 0743477154)

Hammett, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon. New York: Vintage, 1988. (ISBN 0679722645)

Hillerman, Tony. Dance Hall of the Dead. New York: Harper Torch, 2004. (ISBN
0061000027)

Lethem, Jonathan. Motherless Brooklyn. New York: Vintage, 2000. (ISBN
0375724834)

Paretsky, Sara. Indemnity Only. New York: Dell, 1991. (ISBN 0440210690)

Poe, Edgar Allan. Tales of Mystery and Imagination. London: J.M. Dent and
Sons, 1912. (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/)

TBD. Text for Group Research Project.

Required Films (Viewed in Class)

Maltese Falcon. PS3515.A4347 M358 (101 min)

Big Sleep. PS3505.H3224 B5 1989 (115 min)

VI Warshawski.

Required Films (Viewed out of Class)

Dirty Harry. PN1997 .D57 1990 (103 min).

Weblog

http://leeds.bates.edu/fys/335 : A weblog has been set up for this course. All course information
(syllabus, details of assignments, updated schedule, important dates,
etc.) will be published from the weblog. Throughout the semester each student will likewise develop and publish course work using the weblog.

Course Details

Attendanc

Attendance is required. Three unexcused absences will result in a failing
grade for the course.

Assignment

The assignments will be both frequent and varied (including weblog entries, short response papers, and formal essays) and incremental with later assignments building on earlier ones (the weblog entries or short response papers will form the basis of interpretive essays of 3-5 pages, which will go through drafts). Besides individual writing assignments, there will be a group research project as well as a group video project: for the research project, each group will select a text not covered in the class, write a short evaluative response to it (for example, describing how it conforms to or deviates from the genre), and prepare an annotated bibliography of critical sources; for the video project, each group will create a short (3-5 minute) video that interprets imagistically as well as narratively a scene from a text or a common trope of the genre.

Print assignments are to be submitted as hard copies during the class on the day they're due (when indicated on the online syllabus, multiple copies of assignments need to be brought to class). Assignments handed in late (either in person or electronically, including blog postings) will be marked down: the first assignment submitted late will be marked down one letter grade; the second assignment submitted late will be marked down two letter grades; the third and all subsequent late assignments will receive an F.

All assignments must be completed and handed in -- failure to complete
any assignment will result in a zero for that assignment.

Grades

Oral Presentation (1): 5%
Weblog entries (9): 15%
Group Research Project (1): 10%
Short response papers (6): 30%
Essays (3): 30%
Participation: 10%

Schedule