Professor Manina Jones Office: UC 77  Phone: 661-2111, ext. 85783 E-mail: mjones@uwo.ca Home Page

Class Meets in UC 287 Tues. & Thurs. 10:30 am-1pm  Office Hours Tues. & Thurs. 1-2 pm and by appointment

Sue Grafton writes that "A mystery is more than a novel, more than a compelling account of people whose fate engages us. The mystery is a way of examining the dark side of human nature, a means by which we can explore, vicariously, the perplexing questions of crime, guilt and innocence, violence and justice." The figure of the detective has been a source of fascination for readers of mass-market fiction at least since Poe's Dupin strode the "mean streets" of Paris, and detective fiction continues to figure prominently on best-seller lists. This course provides an introduction to the study of popular detective fiction through the reading of a selection of novels, short stories and essays by British, American and Canadian writers. We will consider works in terms of their aesthetic-formal, ideological, historical and theoretical dimensions, and will also discuss popular culture adaptations of the detective narrative in film, television and radio.
 

REQUIRED TEXTS

Burns, R. and M.R. Sullivan, eds. Crime Classics: The Mystery Story from Poe to the Present. Penguin.
Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. Vintage.
Christie, Agatha. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Berkeley.
Hammett, Dashiell. The Maltese Falcon. Vintage.
Hillerman, Tony. Skinwalkers. Harper Collins.
Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress. Pocket.
Paretsky, Sara. Bitter Medicine. Dell.
Sayers, Dorothy L. Gaudy Night. Coronet.
Wilson, Barbara. Gaudí Afternoon. Seal.
 

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS

 

You may choose to write one long comparative paper (2.000 words) OR two shorter papers (1,000 words each), each on a single author or work. Essay topics are posted at http://publish.uwo.ca/~mjones/Topics.html. See above for due dates.
Formal features: Essays should be written according to the standard essay style: typed, double-spaced, 12 point font, on white 8.5" paper with 1" margins. The title page should include the title of the essay, your name, the course number, my name (bonus points for spelling it correctly!-just kidding) and the date. Pages should be attached by a paperclip; please avoid staples, binders, plastic report covers, etc.
Grading criteria: Originality of argument, the ability to support the argument with reference to the primary text, rhetorical persuasiveness, syntax, grammar, spelling, and accurate bibliographic citation will all be factors in the grading of the essay. For a more complete guide to grading criteria visit http://instruct.uwo.ca/english/133e/grading.html
Citations: All bibliographic notation should use the MLA method of parenthetical notation and a Works Consulted page. Please see the sheet "Citing Authorities in an English Essay" (available from the English Department Undergraduate Office) or consult a standard style guide such as the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, and/or the UWO English Department's MLA Style Tips site: http://www.uwo.ca/english/undergrd/mlatips/index.html. See below for information on plagiarism.
Due dates: Essays are due in class on the due date. Papers handed in late without prior permission will be returned with a grade but no comments. Papers handed in late without prior permission will be deducted 2% per day late, including weekends. Under special circumstances, I'm willing to negotiate extensions, but please arrange to discuss your situation with me in advance of the due date. Papers handed in after the assignment is returned will not normally be accepted. There is an essay drop-box outside the English Department Office (UC 173) where essays may be left outside normal office hours. Essays will not be accepted by e-mail or fax.
Keep a copy! Just to be on the safe side, please keep at least one copy of each of your papers and, if you are using a computer, save each file on a diskette-that way you're at least partially protected both from essay-starved house-pets (yours and mine) and file-eating computer worms. Retain all returned, marked assignments until you receive your final grade for the course.
 

SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS

At the beginning of term, you will be asked to choose a seminar topic and date. I can help you develop and refine your seminar topic. Please see me after the class that precedes your seminar to let me know what topics you will cover and how your preparations are going. Seminars should be between 20 and 30 minutes in length. I will be brutal in enforcing this length restriction. Your seminar and paper(s) should NOT be on the same topic. Your presentation will be graded on several components:
HANDOUT: You should provide a photocopied hand-out for other members of the seminar. This should include an outline of the points you intend to cover, any quotations from primary or secondary sources you think it might be useful for other students to refer to, and a list of secondary sources you consulted. It may incorporate anything else you think might be instructive and/or entertaining: a list of questions to ponder, maps, diagrams, puzzles, clues, suggestions for further discussion, etc.
CONTENT AND COHERENCE: A seminar doesn't have to have a tightly focussed argument like a paper, but it does require focus and direction. It should be open-ended enough to promote dialogue. It should also be grounded in evidence from the texts under examination. Don't just READ your presentation-present it to your audience.
DISCUSSION: You can generate discussion in a number of ways: by inviting contributions from others, by asking or soliciting questions, by giving out exercises or topics for discussion, etc.
 

OFFICE HOURS AND E-MAIL POLICY

Office hours: I have scheduled office hours when I wait eagerly in UC 77 for students to phone or drop by; that doesn't mean I'm not also willing to meet with you at other times. However, if you drop by outside my scheduled office hours, you take your chances: I may be at the library, in a meeting, working elsewhere, etc., so if you want to be sure we make contact, it's best to make an appointment. I can be reached by phone/voice mail or e-mail to do this. Occasionally, I have to cancel an office hour. If at all possible, I'll let you know in advance, but if I can't, I'll leave a note on my office door.
E-mail: I'm happy to communicate with students (individually or as a group) via e-mail, but there are a some provisos. (1) I can't always answer e-mails instantly; please allow 24 hours for a response, and remember that I may not check my e-mail at all after the end of workdays, or on weekends. (2) If you want to have a discussion with me about lecture material, essay or exam expectations, course readings, or anything that requires an extended conversation, that's best done in person or by telephone. (3) Please don't use e-mail to negotiate last-minute essay extensions, unless a true emergency arises.
 

REQUISITE STATEMENT ON PLAGIARISM

Students must write their essays and assignments in their own words. Whenever students take an idea or a passage from another author, they must acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and b http://www.uwo.ca/english/undergrd/plagiarism.html y proper referencing such as footnotes or citations. Plagiarism is a major academic offense. The University of Western Ontario uses software for plagiarism checking. Students may be required to submit their written work in electronic form for plagiarism checking. Please consult the Information for Students Sheet (http://www.uwo.ca/english/undergrd/info.html)distributed by the Department of English, the Department's statement on plagiarism (http://www.uwo.ca/english/undergrd/plagiarism.html). Plagiarism rules apply to written sources, electronic sources like the Internet, personal communications and other media. If you are unclear as to the distinction between paraphrase and plagiarism-or anything else--please see me before submitting a paper about which you have doubts.
 

SCHEDULE OF READINGS, TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS

DATE	READINGS& ASSIGNMENTS	USEFUL LINKS
Tues. May 13	Clues: Reading and/as Detection
Thurs. May 15	Early Writers: Introduction Poe, "Murders in the Rue Morgue"
Tues. May 20	Poe, "The Purloined Letter"  Doyle, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"	Listen to a radio documentary on Arthur Conan Doyle.
Thurs. May 22	Doyle, "A Scandal in Bohemia" Glaspell, "A Jury of Her Peers"	Seethe illustrations for the Holmes stories Read Rex Stout's essay "Watson was a Woman" Listen to an adaptation of Susan Glaspell's story.
Tues. May 27	The Golden Age: Introduction Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd [ 1st paper due for those who choose two essays]	Read Van Dine's "20 Rules for Writing Detective Stories" Read  Sayers' "Detection Club Oath" Read Knox's "Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction"
Thurs. May 29	Sayers, Gaudy Night	Annotations to Gaudy Night Tour Somerville College, Oxford
Tues. June 3	Hard-Boiled Writers: Introduction Hammett, The Maltese Falcon	Consult a Glossary of Hard-boiled Slang SeeBlack Mask magazine cover art
Thurs. June 5	Chandler, The Big Sleep	Read Chandler's "The Simple Art of Murder"
Tues. June 10	Contemporary Writers: Introduction Paretsky, Bitter Medicine	Visit Sisters in Crime
Thurs. June 12	Hillerman, Skinwalkers	See a map of Navajoland Tour the canyons of the Four Corners region Visit the excellent PBS Skinwalkers site (mincludes clips and info on the television adaptation, photos and info on Navajoland, interviews, etc., etc.)
Tues. June 17	Mosely, Devil in a Blue Dress Final Paper due (everyone)	Listen to interviews with Walter Mosely: on Easy Rawlins, etc., on the politics of writing, etc.,
Thurs. June 19	Wilson, Gaudí Afternoon Conclusions	See photos of Gaudí 's spectacular architecture, as described in the novel