Required texts:
Books to buy:
Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard; Reprint edition (July 12, 1988)
ISBN-13: 978-0394758282
Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (February 1, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0062073587
China Miéville, The City & the City
Publisher: Del Rey; Reprint edition (April 27, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0345497529
Georges Simenon, The Shadow Puppet (trans. Schwartz)
Publisher: Penguin Books (April 28, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0141394183
Sjöwall & Wahlöö, Roseanna (trans. Roth)
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard; Reprint edition (September 30, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-0307390462
Yrsa Sigurdardóttir, Last Rituals (trans. Scudder)
Publisher: Harper; Reprint edition (April 7, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0061143373
links to on-line texts:
note: OPEN days have no initial scheduled class meeting but may become class days if we have intervening ice days
Fri 25 Aug: Introductions
Mon 28 Aug: S.S. Van Dine, Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories (1928) (short)
Wed 30 Aug: Raymond Chandler, Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder (1950) (short)
Fri 1 Sept: Tzvetan Todorov, The Typology of Detective Fiction (1966) (short)
Mon 4 Sept: NO CLASS MEETING; LABOR DAY
Wed 6 Sept: Sophocles, Oedipus the King (late 5th c. BCE), trans. Ian Johnston (short)
Fri 8 Sept: Boccaccio, Decameron, Day 4, Novel 5 (c1350) (short)
Mon 11 Sept: OPEN
Wed 13 Sept: Voltaire, Zadig, Chapter 3 (1747) (short)
Fri 15 Sept: Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, The Jews' Beech-Tree (1842) (short)
Mon 18 Sept: Edgar Allan Poe, The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) (short)
Wed 20 Sept: Edgar Allan Poe, The Purloined Letter (1844) (short)
Fri 22 Sept: lecture: early police
Mon 25 Sept: Émile Gaboriau, excerpt from The Lerouge Case (1866) (short)
Wed 27 Sept: lecture: textual detectives of the C19
Fri 29 Sept: crowdsource: Sherlock Holmes
Mon 2 Oct: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League (1891) (short)
Wed 4 Oct: Arthur Conan Doyle, Silver Blaze (1892) (short)
Fri 6 Oct: crowdsource: Christie
Mon 9 Oct: Christie, The ABC Murders, 1936 (first half: chs. 1-17) (long)
Wed 11 Oct: lecture: The Golden Age
Fri 13 Oct: crowdsource: Golden-Age classics
Mon 16 Oct: Christie, The ABC Murders, 1936 (second half: chs. 18-35) (long)
Wed 18 Oct: lecture: hard-boiled
Fri 20 Oct: crowdsource: private eyes
Mon 23 Oct: Simenon, The Shadow Puppet, 1932 (long)
Wed 25 Oct: lecture: procedurals; cops on stage and in film
Fri 27 Oct: crowdsource: film
Mon 30 Oct: Chandler, The Big Sleep, 1939 (long)
Wed 1 Nov: lecture: postwar global detection
Fri 3 Nov: crowdsource: true crime
Mon 6 Nov: Sjöwall & Wahlöö, Roseanna, 1965 (long)
Wed 8 Nov: lecture: postmodern detection
Fri 10 Nov: crowdsource: global lit
Mon 13 Nov: Miéville, The City & the City, 2009 (first half: chs. 1-11) (long)
Wed 15 Nov: lecture: TV; crime consumerized
Fri 17 Nov: crowdsource: TV & games
Mon 20 Nov: Miéville, The City & the City, 2009 (second half: chs. 12-29) (long)
Wed 22 & Fri 24 Nov: NO CLASS MEETINGS (Thanksgiving)
Mon 27 Nov: OPEN
Wed 29 Nov: OPEN
Fri 1 Dec: OPEN
Mon 4 Dec: Yrsa, Last Rituals, 2005 (long)
Wed 6 Dec: OPEN
Wed 13 Dec: timeline projects due
syllabus: The effective version of the syllabus is always at http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/courses/3333f17/3333mainf17.html. If you are looking at a print or .pdf version, please make sure to consult the online version for updates.
grading:
Attendance: At The University of Texas at Arlington, taking attendance is not required. Rather, each faculty member is free to develop his or her own methods of evaluating students' academic performance, which includes establishing course-specific policies on attendance. As the instructor of this section, I give credit for attendance according to the grading rules above, and success in this course will be impossible without regular attendance.
Drop Policy: Students may drop or swap (adding and dropping a class concurrently) classes through self-service in MyMav from the beginning of the registration period through the late registration period. After the late registration period, students must see their academic advisor to drop a class or withdraw. Undeclared students must see an advisor in the University Advising Center. Drops can continue through a point two-thirds of the way through the term or session. It is the student's responsibility to officially withdraw if they do not plan to attend after registering. Students will not be automatically dropped for non-attendance. Repayment of certain types of financial aid administered through the University may be required as the result of dropping classes or withdrawing. For more information, contact the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships.
academic integrity: Students enrolled in this course are expected to adhere to the UT Arlington Honor Code:
I pledge, on my honor, to uphold UT Arlington's tradition of academic integrity, a tradition that values hard work and honest effort in the pursuit of academic excellence.UT Arlington faculty members may employ the Honor Code as they see fit in their courses, including (but not limited to) having students acknowledge the honor code as part of an examination or requiring students to incorporate the honor code into any work submitted. Per UT System Regents' Rule 50101, 2.2, suspected violations of university's standards for academic integrity (including the Honor Code) will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Violators will be disciplined in accordance with University policy, which may result in the student's suspension or expulsion from the University.
I promise that I will submit only work that I personally create or contribute to group collaborations, and I will appropriately reference any work from other sources. I will follow the highest standards of integrity and uphold the spirit of the Honor Code.
disability policy: The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 93112—The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. With the passage of new federal legislation entitled Americans with Disabilities Act – (ADA), pursuant to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, there is renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens. As a faculty member, I am required by law to provide "reasonable accommodation" to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of that disability. Student responsibility primarily rests with informing faculty at the beginning of the semester and in providing authorized documentation through designated administrative channels.
Electronic Communication: UT Arlington has adopted MavMail as its official means to communicate with students about important deadlines and events, as well as to transact university-related business regarding financial aid, tuition, grades, graduation, etc. All students are assigned a MavMail account and are responsible for checking the inbox regularly. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, which remains active even after graduation. Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/cs/email/mavmail.php.
Student Feedback Survey: At the end of each term, students enrolled in classes categorized as "lecture," "seminar," or "laboratory" shall be directed to complete an online Student Feedback Survey (SFS). Instructions on how to access the SFS for this course will be sent directly to each student through MavMail approximately 10 days before the end of the term. Each student's feedback enters the SFS database anonymously and is aggregated with that of other students enrolled in the course. UT Arlington's effort to solicit, gather, tabulate, and publish student feedback is required by state law; students are strongly urged to participate. For more information, visit http://www.uta.edu/sfs.
Title IX: The University of Texas at Arlington does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, genetic information, and/or veteran status in its educational programs or activities it operates. For more information, visit uta.edu/eos. For information regarding Title IX, visit www.uta.edu/titleIX
Emergency Exit Procedures: Should we experience an emergency event that requires us to vacate the building, students should exit the room and move toward the nearest exits. When exiting the building during an emergency, one should never take an elevator but should use the stairwells. Faculty members and instructional staff will assist students in selecting the safest route for evacuation and will make arrangements to assist handicapped individuals.