The best in town
The beginnings of detective crime fiction
"The beginnings" is a task for A-level students.
Read button 10 to get some background information.
It's time to dig into one of the early classics. Read button 11. While you read it,
please listen to the audio recording that you can find in the youtube clip. You might want to right-click words you don't understand.
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The Golden Age
Even though we are not going to read any Golden Age crime fiction, you should still know what it is:
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TASK:
Try to recall the movie "Knives Out" and find your notes. Can you think of any Golden Age characteristics in that movie?
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If this makes you curious, you might want to read Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayer. You can listen to some of it by pressing the youtube film to your left.
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Read button 14: "20 rules". Now you know enough to construct a mystery.
Hard-boiled detective fiction
It's time to turn up the heat and the pace...
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A-level: Read button 15 to get some background information.
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B-level: Read button 16.
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Now you are ready to read "They can only hang you once" or "Arson Plus". You might want to watch the Youtube clip on Dashiell Hammett's life.
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Suspense Thrillers
Suspense thrillers differ from detective fiction, but they are still a wonderful part of Crime fiction. Who doesn't know James Bond???
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A-level students should read button 22 before digging into Ian Fleming: Live or let die. We'll read all of that novel - you might want to hear it while you read. It takes 7 hours. When you've read it, we'll watch the movie starring Sir Roger Moore.
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B-level students should watch the movie before reading and listening to the first 5 chapters of button 24:
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I The red carpet
II Interview with M
III A visiting card
IV The big switchboard
V Nigger heaven
Police in contemporary fiction
I'm sure your granny loves to watch Barnaby while you might prefer The Black List or CSI - the choice is virtually unlimited...
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Read button 25 to get an idea of the different kinds of officers we're dealing with.
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We are going to read a brilliant story by Zoë Sharp in which she plays with perspectives.
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Time to see what you've learned
Now it's time to see what you've learned.
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You get one lesson to answer this simple question:
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???????
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- You should include information about at least 5 texts that we've covered.
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- Computers are not welcome, so I suggest that you choose the 5-7 texts you want to relate to and bring a few notes on paper.
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Bibliography: A-level
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Focus on understanding Crime in fiction as a variety of subgenres. This topic has covered the characteristics of the beginnings of crime in fiction, hard-boiled detective fiction, police procedurals and suspense thrillers. (Approx. 340 pages)
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MILDA DANYTÉ: "Introduction to the analysis of Crime in Fiction", (excerpt - characteristics pages in particular) VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY, KAUNAS, 2011,
https://www.vdu.lt/cris/bitstream/20.500.12259/225/1/ISBN9789955126980.pdf (30 pages)
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Rian Johnson: "Knives out", Movie from 2019 (10 pages)
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ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: "The adventure of the Sussex vampire", The Strand Magazine, 1924 (20 pages)
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Dashiell Hammett: "They can only hang you once" In Grarup & Ravn: "Crime in Fiction", Systime (15 pages)
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Ed Mcbain: "Kid kill", https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c7OCVM53yVb5M_cA9EvnTR_qyhOSOuTS (11 pages)
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Ian Fleming: "Live and let die", Jonathan Cape, 1954 (234 pages)
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Movie: Guy Hamilton, "James Bond - Live and let die", 1973 (10 pages)
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Zoe Sharp: "Tell me" 2006 in Barkholt & Jepsen: "Crime in fiction", Systime, 2012 (5 pages)
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Bibliography: B-level
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Focus on understanding Crime in fiction as a variety of subgenres. This topic has covered the characteristics of hard-boiled detective fiction, police procedurals and suspense thrillers. (Approx. 75 pages)
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MILDA DANYTÉ: "Introduction to the analysis of Crime in Fiction", (excerpt - characteristics pages only) VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY, KAUNAS, 2011,
https://www.vdu.lt/cris/bitstream/20.500.12259/225/1/ISBN9789955126980.pdf (20 pages)
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Rian Johnson: "Knives out", Movie from 2019 (10 pages)
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Dashiell Hammett: "They can only hang you once" In Grarup & Ravn: "Crime in Fiction", Systime (15 pages)
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Ed Mcbain: "Kid kill", https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c7OCVM53yVb5M_cA9EvnTR_qyhOSOuTS (11 pages)
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Movie: Guy Hamilton, "James Bond - Live and let die", 1973 (10 pages)
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Zoe Sharp: "Tell me" 2006 in Barkholt & Jepsen: "Crime in fiction", Systime, 2012 (5 pages)
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