Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 102315

Coordinator Matt Mcguire Opens in new window

Description This subject will introduce students to a variety of texts drawn from the history of crime fiction; including the classic detective story, the Golden Age mystery, US 'Hard Boiled' fiction, the police procedural, and the literary crime novel. Students will develop their knowledge of theories of genre, specifically its formation and evolution, and its implications for the process of making meaning. They will learn about the changing place of crime fiction within the English literary canon, exploring the genre's relationship to questions of artistic value, the distinction between high and low culture, and the differences between literary and popular fiction.

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 1 10cp

Check your fees via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Restrictions

Successful completion of 60 credit points.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. analyse a variety of texts drawn from the history of crime fiction
2. identify the formal and thematic elements within various sub-genres of crime fiction
3. employ genre theory to interpret individual texts and to situate them within the broader history of crime fiction
4. locate crime fiction within a series of arguments about the nature of high and low art, and within the critical approaches to the history of the genre.

Subject Content

Content may vary between semesters, but it will draw from, or elaborate on, the following pool of topics:
- The Classic detective story
- The Golden Age Crime novel
- the US 'hard boiled' tradition
- The police procedural
- contemporary Crime fiction
- genre theory
- theories of High and low art
- Critical history of Crime fiction