Department of English

This course will consider the detective as literary hero, beginning with
the creation of C. Auguste Dupin by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) and culminating
in the post-modern world of Paul Auster (b. 1947). Along the way we will
read some of the authors considered classics in detective fiction, such as
Wilkie Collins (1824-1889), Emile Gaboriau (1832-1873), Arthur Conan Doyle
(1859-1930), Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961), and
Ross MacDonald (1915-1983). Additional reading assignments will include classic
essays on the genre by the novelists themselves, as well as short stories by
William Faulkner (1897-1962) and Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). In addition, we
may consider how some of these detectives are represented by the film industry.
Required: class attendance and participation, mid-term and final exams, and 2-3
essays.

Fulfills General Requirement in Arts & Letters