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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Centre for Open Learning : Literature, Languages and Cultures

Undergraduate Course: The Great Detectives 4 (LLLG07056)

Course Outline
SchoolCentre for Open Learning CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryTHIS IS A FOR-CREDIT COURSE OFFERED BY THE OFFICE OF LIFELONG LEARNING (OLL); ONLY STUDENTS REGISTERED WITH OLL SHOULD BE ENROLLED.

Detective fiction is a fascinating genre because of the sheer multiplicity of novels within it. This course aims to tease out the different approaches that detective fiction writers have used. We will study a novel of the American neo-noir in which the author resists the temptation to resolve the ending alongside the first-person narrative of a young detective with learning disabilities. We will also consider the impact of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood in changing the direction of detective fiction towards more postmodern factional techniques.
Course description Week 1 and Week 2: Recording experiences in a 'murder mystery novel': a discussion of a rather unusual detective and a rather unusual crime.
Text: Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Week 3 and Week 4: 'Very little is discovered and the detective is defeated': Umberto Eco's post-modern take on historical detective fiction.
Text: Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose

Week 5 and Week 6: 'The book's suspense is based largely on a totally new idea in detective stories: the promise of gory details, and the withholding of them until the end.' (Tom Wolfe) A discussion on how Capote's novel changed detective fiction.
Text: Truman Capote: In Cold Blood

Week 7 and Week 8: An auctioneer turned detective: Welsh's Rilke in Glasgow.
Text: Louise Welsh: The Cutting Room

Week 9 and Week 10: A discussion of James Ellroy's neo-noir style and his refusal to tie up his loose ends.
Text: James Ellroy: L. A. Confidential
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
* discuss texts confidently;
* assess literature based, to a certain extent, on their own close reading;
* place literature in its historical context;
* explain the various elements of the genre of detective fiction;
* demonstrate a good understanding of how the genre has developed and diversified.
Reading List
Essential
Eco, Umberto 2004. The Name of the Rose. London: Vintage.
Capote, Truman 2009. In Cold Blood. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Ellroy, James 1995. L. A. Confidential. London: Arrow.
Haddon, Mark 2004. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. London: Vintage.
Welsh, Louise 2003. The Cutting Room. Edinburgh: Cannongate.

Recommended
Priestman, Martin ed., 2003. The Cambridge Companion to Detective Fiction. Cambridge: CUP.
Scaggs, John 2005. Crime Fiction. London: Routledge.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills * Close critical reading of passages from texts.
* Small group working.
* Setting literature in historical, social and political context.
* Advance preparation of material for class including work for essays and class discussion.
* Wide reading. Students will be encouraged to work around the subject by reading other detective novels and relevant secondary material.
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Anya Clayworth
Tel:
Email:
Course secretaryMrs Sabine Murdoch
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email:
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