Module Code - Title:

CU4011 - COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: CRIME FICTION AS CRITICAL MEMORY

Year Last Offered:

2025/6

Hours Per Week:

Lecture

2

Lab

0

Tutorial

1

Other

0

Private

7

Credits

6

Grading Type:

N

Prerequisite Modules:

Rationale and Purpose of the Module:

This interdisciplinary module examines literatures from different linguistic and cultural contexts comparatively, both from the point of view of theory, and in practice. More specifically, it combines Crime Fiction Studies with Memory Studies. The students will be introduced to theoretical approaches to both comparative literature and the development of the crime genre, and apply these to contemporary crime novels from a variety of cultural contexts. In particular, the module will explore the ways in which such texts enable critical inquiry into common experiences past and present across cultures. The focus is on how the crime genre is used to critically explore a traumatic and silenced past and its continuing impact on the present. In their analyses of these texts, students will discuss issues of memory, identity and functions of (popular) literature and film. The module will also provide the setting for further developing the students' critical and analytical skills in the study of literature.

Syllabus:

The course is structured as follows: 2 hours b/b of lectures per week in which the students will be introduced to the concept of comparative literature, the development of the crime genre (Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler), and, following on from this, to a range of crime novels and films from different cultural and language backgrounds (e.g. Austrian, French, German, Irish, Italian, Japanese), which involve a historical dimension and issues of individual and collective memory and the investigation of a silenced past. 1 hour tutorial per week in which the students will focus on the analysis of the prime texts from a comparative approach, looking at various textual strategies of representation, and in which students will give presentations.

Learning Outcomes:

Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: * identify and explain different approaches within comparative literature and demonstrate familiarity with the development of the discipline * demonstrate familiarity with and explain the origins of and main developments in the crime genre from a comparative point of view * use a comparative approach in their analysis and interpretation of designated course texts in their historical, cultural and political contexts. * demonstrate competency in independent research and presentation of an associated topic * compare and contrast literary texts and other cultural products from a range of different cultural contexts in written and oral forms at an appropriate academic level.

Affective (Attitudes and Values)

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: * demonstrate awareness of the value and limitations of a comparative approach in the study of literature and other cultural products * engage with issues of universal justice and the recovery of historical memory * engage with critical inquiry into collective experiences across cultures through the medium of literature

Psychomotor (Physical Skills)

n/a

How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:

Three hours weekly based on a combination of lecture/seminar and tutorial with presentations by students. There will be a strong emphasis on group communication. The texts will be complemented with other audiovisual materials such as films, documentaries and audio recordings. Research on crime fiction by the module leader and other academic staff teaching the module is directly incorporated in the module. Students are encouraged to engage with the biennial conferences and other events of the International Crime Fiction Research Group (see https://internationalcrimefiction.org/)

Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):

Prime Texts:

Poe, Edgar Allan (2006) Murders in the Rue Morgue , Vintage

Conan Doyle, Arthur (2001) A Study in Scarlet , Penguin Classics

Chandler, Raymond (2011) Farewell, My Lovely , Penguin Fiction

Daeninckx, Didier (2005) Murder in Memoriam (Transl. Liz Heron) , Serpent's Tail

Pittler, Andreas (2013) Inspector Bronstein and the Anschluss. Tsuris 1938 (Transl. Vincent Kling) , Ariadne Press

Rabinovici, Doron (2000) The Search for M. (Transl. Francis M. Sharp) , Ariadne Press

Murakami, Haruki (2000) A Wild Sheep Chase. (Transl. Alfred Birnbaum) , Vintage

Bruen, Ken (2003) The Magdalen Martyrs: A Jack Taylor Story , Brandon

Parsons, Julie (2017) The Therapy House , New Island Books

Louise Nilsson, David Damrosch and Theo D'haen (eds) (2017) Crime Fiction as World Literature , Bloomsbury

Damrosch, David, Natalie Melas and Mbongiseni Buthelezi (eds) (2009) Princeton Sourcebook in Comparative Literature: From the European Enlightenment to the Global Present. , Princeton

Stewart King et al (eds) (2020) The Routledge Companion to Crime Fiction , Routledge

Stewart King et al (eds) (2020) The Cambridge Companion to World Crime Fiction , CUP

Krajenbrink, Marieke & Kate M. Quinn (eds) (2009) Investigating Identities: Questions of Identity in Contemporary International Crime Fiction , Rodopi

Other Relevant Texts:

Bassnett, Susan (1993) Comparative Literature. A Critical Introduction , Blackwell

Anderson, Jean, Carolina Miranda and Barbara Pezzotti (eds (2014) The Foreign in International Crime Fiction : Transcultural Representations , Bloomsbury

Gregoriou, Christiana (2019) Crime Fiction Migration. Crossing Languages, Cultures and Media , Bloomsbury

Effron, Malcah (ed.) (2011) The Millennial Detective: essays on trends in crime fiction, film and television, 1990-2010 , McFarland

Forshaw, Barry (2014) Euro Noir: the pocket essential guide to European crime fiction, film & TV , Harpenden

Geherin, David (2012) The Dragon Tattoo and its Long Tail: The new wave of European crime fiction in America , McFarland

Hall, Katherine (2016) Crime Fiction in German: Der Krimi , University of Wales Press

Mühleisen, Susanne and Christine Matzke (eds) (2006) Postcolonial Postmortems: crime fiction from a transcultural perspective. , Rodopi

Scaggs, John (2005) Crime Fiction , Routledge

Gorrara, Claire (2012) French Crime Fiction and the Second World War: past crimes, present memories , Manchester University Press

Burke, Declan (2011) Down These Green Streets: Irish crime writing in the twenty-first century , Liberties Press

Mannion, Elizabeth (ed) (2016) The Contemporary Irish Detective Novel , Palgrave Macmillan

Hantke, S (2007) Postmodernism and Genre Fiction as Deferred Action: Haruki Murakami and the Noir Tradition , In: Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 49 (1), 3-24. doi:10.3200/CRIT.49.1.2-24

Steblyk, Cathy (2003) Corpi, Murakami, and Contemporary Hardboiled Fiction , CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 5.2 (2003):

Murphy, Paula (2006) Murderous Mayhem: Ken Bruen and the New Ireland , Clues 24/2 (Winter 2006), pp. 3-16

Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:

BAAPLAUFA - APPLIED LANGUAGES

BAEUSTUFA - EUROPEAN STUDIES

BAARTSUDA - Arts

Semester(s) Module is Offered:

Autumn

Module Leader:

Michaela.SchrageFrueh@ul.ie