TOPIC: Detectives and Spies from Sherlock Holmes to James Bond.  This course
introduces students to an understanding of literary genre, the so-called
"rules of the game" or conventions governing different types or categories
of creative literature.  It will focus upon the popular literary genre of
"the thriller," but an understanding of literary conventions will be
applicable to any kind of literature-not only popular types such as the
detective novel but more "serious" or "high-brow" works, such as dramatic
tragedy or epic poetry.  A secondary but important theme of the course will
examine how the thriller may reflect important ways of thinking about
crucial historical, cultural and political changes (the Cold War, crime and
punishment, political conflict, etc.)

Readings will include some of the classic examples of the thriller, from
Edgar Allan Poe (the inventor of the detective story), Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle (the creator of Sherlock Holmes), Ian Fleming (the creator of James
Bond), Jorge Luis Borges, and John Le Carré to Umberto Eco.

In addition to the classic literary thriller, the class will also examine
how the literary conventions of the thriller are modified in cinematic
adaptations. Famous American detectives from the hard-boiled detective novel
(Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe) will be examined in cinematic adaptations by
John Houston (The Maltese Falcon, 1941) and Howard Hawks (The Big Sleep,
1946),  two works starring Humphrey Bogart.  As illustrations of the
cinematic treatment of the theme of espionage, the class will analyze Alfred
Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1958), as well as two James Bond films:
Terence Young's From Russia with Love (1963); and Martin Campbell's
Goldeneye (1995).  A few secondary essays will be assigned, including some
very entertaining and provocative essays by Umberto Eco on James Bond,
Sherlock Holmes, and the postmodern novel's playful approach to the "rules
of the game" in literature.

Students will be asked to write three brief papers (one of which may be
rewritten for an improved grade) and to take a midterm and final
examination.  Film screenings are scheduled during the evening, but films
used in the course are readily available from local video stores.