In-Depth: Detective Fiction from Dupin to Lupin

3 units

Though Sherlock Holmes remains famed for his remark “Elementary, dear Watson,” detective fiction could be said to have emerged from France. We will investigate the heritage of the Enlightenment method, the aftermath of the scientific revolution, that informed medical diagnoses, forensic analyses, and assessments of criminal intent. Beginning with Voltaire’s “Zadig,” we will trace the cross-channel and transatlantic exchange between France, Britain, and the United States, as authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle were widely translated. France replied to their stories of amateur and master-sleuths (Dupin and Holmes) with their own figure of the “gentleman thief,” Arsène Lupin. From romans noirs (whodunnits) to film noir, featuring hardboiled detectives, we will explore how the traditions informed one another, learning to follow the clues that enable us to solve the mystery and close the case. Authors include Voltaire, Poe, Balzac, Gaboriau, Leroux, Simenon, Leblanc, Modiano, and Vargas. Films include Renoir’s La bête humaine, Tourneur’s Out of the Past, Leconte’s Maigret, Dayan’s Collection Fred Vargas, and the recent Netflix series Lupin.