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

Undergraduate Course: The Great Detectives 6 (LLLG07089)

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 course explores the origins of detective fiction. We will consider Edgar Allan Poe¿s first detective stories as well as how Charles Dickens popularised the genre and how Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo brought social conscience into Scandi noir. We will discuss Truman Capote¿s intervention into the genre with his true crime account as well as looking at the first tartan noir novel.
Course description Detective fiction is a fascinating genre because of the sheer multiplicity of novels within it. This course aims to tease out the differing approaches that detective fiction writers have used. We will study Fyodor Dostoevsky's meditation on the morality of murder in the name of a higher purpose and Graham Greene's exploration of sin and damnation in the gangland world of Brighton. We will explore how the narration of the crimes of two sociopathic murderers affects our engagement with these cold-blooded criminals and look at the first 'tartan noir' novel, William McIlvanney's Laidlaw.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. show confidence in discussing texts
  2. demonstrate analytical approach to close reading
  3. place literature in its historical, cultural and political context
  4. explain and identify the various elements of the genre
  5. demonstrate a good understanding of how the genre has developed and diversified
Learning Resources
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserMrs Anthea Coleman-Chan
Tel: (0131 6)51 1589
Email:
Course secretaryMs Kameliya Skerleva
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email:
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