European Crime Fiction and Film

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course introduces students to the genre of crime fiction (and film) in a European and interdisciplinary context. We will start by examining the beginning of the genre in the 18th century alongside: the history of the police in Germany, France, and Britain; the development of public administration; and that of the modern state. We will trace the figure of the detective, the criminal, the victim; the relationship between crime fiction and the urban environment or society more broadly ("police" comes from the Greek polis=city); the history of policing practices; changing concepts of justice and guilt; the status of clues, indices, evidence. We will also consider the parallels between practices of reading and detecting and we will engage with some theoretical and philosophical writings on the genre (e.g., Siegfried Kracauer, Ernst Bloch, Michel Foucault) before ending with a consideration of the history of true crime. Other materials include Hoffmann, Poe, Browning, Conan Doyle, Simenon, Christie, alongside films such as: M (Fritz Lang); The Third Man (Carol Reed); The Smiling Madame Beudet (Germaine Dulac), Outrage (Ida Lupino); Die Reise nach Lyon (Blind Spot) (Claudia von Alemann); Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet). Readings and discussions in English. All students welcome.