English 202 — Crime Fiction
Tuesday/Thursday, 3-4:15 p.m. Robinson Hall B, Room 105
Office/hours: Thompson Hall 207C, Tuesday/Thursday, 9-10:15 a.m., or by appt.
E-mail: etaylori@gmu.edu (Please note: No assignments/essays may be submitted via email.)
Website: http://artandliterature.wordpress.com
Required Texts and Materials (in the order we’ll read them)
- Hammett, Dashiell. Red Harvest. 1929. New York: Vintage, 1992.
- Ellroy, James. The Big Nowhere. 1988. New York: Mysterious Press, 1998.
- Hughes, Dorothy B. In A Lonely Place. 1947. New York: Feminist Press, 2003.
- Macdonald, Ross. The Underground Man. 1971. New York: Vintage, 1996.
- Grafton, Sue. A Is For Alibi. 1982. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005.
- Himes, Chester. Cotton Comes to Harlem. 1965. New York: Vintage, 1988.
- Pelecanos, George. Hard Revolution. New York: Warner Books, 2004.
- Index cards (at least 30, 3” x 5”, white) and loose-leaf pages
Bring to class each day: text under discussion; loose-leaf pages; index cards; syllabus.
NOTE: Some novels here will include graphic violence, explicit sex, and offensive language. Students uncomfortable with this are encouraged to reconsider taking the course.
SCHEDULE
***NOTE: THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
WEEK ONE
September 1: Introduction to course, including review of syllabus.
September 3: Red Harvest, 1-69.
WEEK TWO
September 8: Red Harvest, 70-168
September 10: Red Harvest, 169-216. Reading Response 1 due no later than today.
WEEK THREE
September 15: The Big Nowhere, 1-83.
September 17: The Big Nowhere, 84-154.
WEEK FOUR
September 22: The Big Nowhere, 154-316.
September 24: Fall for the Book: Poe’s bicentennial with novelists Louis Bayard (The Pale Blue Eye) and Matthew Pearl (The Poe Shadow) and scholar Daniel Stashower (The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder); Research I, 163.
SPECIAL EVENT
Saturday, September 26, 7 p.m.: James Ellroy discusses his new novel, Blood’s A Rover, at the Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD. Bonus for students who attend!
WEEK FIVE
September 29: The Big Nowhere, 319-406.
October 1: In A Lonely Place, 1-63.
WEEK SIX
October 6: In A Lonely Place, 64-138.
October 8: In A Lonely Place, 138-223. Response 2 due no later than today.
WEEK SEVEN
October 13: No class; Columbus Day break.
October 15: Mid-Term Exam.
WEEK EIGHT
October 20: The Underground Man, 1-73.
October 22: The Underground Man, 73-147.
Mid-term grades posted by October 23
WEEK NINE
October 27: The Underground Man, 148-206.
October 29: The Underground Man, 207-273.
WEEK TEN
November 3: A Is For Alibi, 1-124.
November 5: A Is For Alibi, 125-213.
WEEK ELEVEN
November 10: A Is For Alibi, 214-308. Response 3 due no later than today.
November 12: Cotton Comes to Harlem, 5-55.
WEEK TWELVE
November 17: Cotton Comes to Harlem, 55-110.
November 19: Cotton Comes to Harlem, 110-159.
WEEK THIRTEEN
November 24: Hard Revolution, 1-115.
November 26: No class; Thanksgiving.
WEEK FOURTEEN
December 1: Hard Revolution, 116-208.
December 3: Hard Revolution, 209-335.
WEEK FIFTEEN
December 5: Hard Revolution, 336-447. Response 4 due no later than today.
December 10: Review of course; exam prep; instructor evaluations.
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, December 15, 1:30 –4:15 p.m.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Course Objectives (copied in part from English Dept. materials): ENGL 202 (Texts and Contexts) continues and builds upon 201 with special attention to the examination of texts within the framework of culture, using such categories as gender, race, class, religion and nationality. Students should be able to:
- Explore correlations between a text and its cultural contexts
- Identify and employ some techniques of literary analysis
- Formulate descriptive and analytical statements about literature
- Be familiar with some strategies of literary interpretation
- Formulate and interpret questions
- Argue in support of an interpretation
- Write critical papers that use the skills developed above to develop and support an interpretation
For this section of 202, we will not be attempting a comprehensive survey of American detective fiction. Instead, we will sample significant representative texts with an eye specifically toward evaluating the genre’s ability to reflect historical eras and engage social, cultural, and even philosophical problems.
Methods of Instruction/Assignments: The success of this class depends as much on your participation as it does on my guidance. In addition to incidental lecturing, class time will be spent on group discussion and activities, in-class writing assignments, and daily quizzes.
Quizzes: Beginning the second class of the semester, a four-question quiz will be given during the first three to five minutes of each class. Students arriving late or absent forfeit the quiz.
Exams: A mid-term and final exam will be given; dates below. The exams are a combination of short answer (similar to the quizzes) and short essay.
Reading Responses: You will be expected to write four three-page reading responses (approx. 750 words each, typed). In some cases, I will assign a “prompt” to which you can respond; but in all cases, you have the freedom to explore your thoughts, impressions and opinions. Several important things:
- You must respond to Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest. After that, you must respond once for each pair of books we’ll read through the balance of the semester; in other words, you must respond to either The Big Nowhere or In A Lonely Place; to either The Underground Man or A Is For Alibi; and to eitherCotton Comes to Harlem or Hard Revolution.
- Your responses should include a thesis; rely directly and explicitly on textual evidence to support their arguments; integrate quotes properly (in-text citations); and include a bibliography in MLA format.
- Additionally, each response should attempt to examine the work under discussion within larger social, cultural, and historical contexts.
- Your reading response must examine the section of text under discussion on the day you submit your response. (We’ll talk about this on our first day.)
Format Policy: Assignments should be handed in double-spaced with one-inch margins, in
12 pt. Times font (or one comparable to Times). Your name, course number and name (English 202: Crime Fiction), and the date should be in the top left-hand corner of the first page. Papers must be stapled. No cover sheets.
Handing in Papers: All responses must be handed in during the class in which the reading is discussed. After that point, they are considered late. Your absence from class does not excuse you from turning in your paper; have one of your classmates turn it in for you (see “Class Contacts” below). Papers put in my mailbox,whether before or after the deadline, will be considered late (see below). Papers will not be accepted over email — no exceptions.
Late Assignment Policy: Late homework and class work will not be accepted (no make-up quizzes). Responses handed in one class late will lose one letter grade (i.e. a late A- paper will become a B-) and will not be eligible for revision. Papers handed in more than one class late will not be accepted. I encourage you to speak to me if you are having trouble meeting a deadline.
Revision Policy: You will receive a letter grade from me on each reading response. Unless your original response was late (see above), you may submit a revision of any graded response no later than one week after I have returned the response to you. If you submit a revision, you must also submit the original, graded response and a short description of what changes you’ve made and why I should reread the revised draft. Your new grade will average the grades for the original paper and for the revision.
Writing Center: The Writing Center provides free one-on-one tutoring to help you at any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming to revising to completing your bibliography. The Writing Center is located at Robinson A114; you can also contact them at (703) 993-1200 or visit the Web site at writingcenter.gmu.edu.
Plagiarism Statement: George Mason University has an Honor Code, which requires all members of this community to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. Cheating, plagiarism, lying, and stealing are all prohibited. The English Department’s plagiarism statement follows:
“Plagiarism means using the exact words, opinions, or factual information from another person without giving the person credit. Writers give credit through accepted documentation styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes or endnotes; a simple listing of books and articles is not sufficient. Plagiarism is the equivalent of intellectual robbery and cannot be tolerated in an academic setting.”
If I suspect you have committed plagiarism, I will submit your work to the GMU Honor Committee; you will receive an “HC” for your final grade until the case has been addressed. See honorcode.gmu.edu for more detailed information.
Attendance/Participation Policy: You are expected to be an active participant in class, which is difficult if you do not attend. Class discussions, quizzes, and in-class writing assignments will be crucial to your development in this course and will impact your final grade. As noted above, these cannot be completed outside of class or accepted later. Participation includes speaking, not just sitting. Failure to complete reading assignments constitutes negative participation, as if you aren’t even here. Note: No cell phones please. If one rings in class, you lose participation credit for that day. (If mine rings, everyone present gets a bonus point for participation that day.)
Grading: The breakdown of your grade is as follows:
- Four Reading Responses (750 words each) — 40% (10% each)
- Mid-Term Exam — 15%
- Final Exam — 20%
- Quizzes — 15%
- Participation in class discussion — 10%
Mid-term Grades: Your mid-term grade will assess your work in the course and your participation through the 7th week of the semester. Following is the English Department’s policy statement regarding midterm grades: In English 202 students receive a midterm letter grade based on the work of the first seven weeks of the course. The purpose of this grade is to help students find out how well they are doing in the first half of the course in order to make any adjustments necessary for success in the course as a whole. Instructors calculate letter grades based on the completed course assignments as weighted on the syllabus through the seventh week. The work in the second half of the semester may be weighted more heavily, and so the midterm grade is not meant to predict the final course grade. Students may view their grade online at PatriotWeb.
BONUS: Any student attending the James Ellroy reading on Saturday, September 26, at 7 p.m. at the Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD will receive a full letter-grade increase either on their mid-term exam or on one reading response (at the student’s preference).
E-mail Policy: You need to establish your GMU email account, so I can communicate with you about any changes to the schedule or any requirements not stated in the syllabus.
Accommodation for Students with Disabilities: If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Office of Disability Resources at 703.993.2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through that office.
