Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Explores influential works of literature with a particular emphasis on how they exist across temporal and/or spatial divides, how they alternately bridge and reinforce differences of time, culture, and place. May be repeated for credit once if different topic is taught.

COURSE DETAILS:

Trust in Noir and Neo-Noir

Noir was a term used by critics to describe a group of mid twentieth films and novels dealing with dark, cynical themes. But noir has burgeoned and we now speak of neo-noir. This course will trace the origins of noir in the early twentieth century up to the present, where noir has splintered into many subgenres, from rural noir to scandi-noir (and Vancouver noir). We will focus on themes such as despair, corruption, uncertainty, and above all the erosion of trust. 

After outlining noir’s origins, and noir's relationship to the murder mystery and the detective novel traditions, we will begin with Marie Belloc Lowndes' The Lodger (1913), before switching continents to consider Dashiell Hammett's American hardboiled classic The Maltese Falcon (1930). Then we will read James Cain’s cynical masterpiece Double Indemnity (1943). In the first work, there's no trust in strangers; in the second work, there's no trust in society -- a common Hammett theme -- and certainly no trust in love. In the third work, there's no trust even between lovers whose crimes mean they have extra reasons to trust each other.

From there we move on to a work from the 1950s  — Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley — that takes traditional noir in a different, psychological, direction but continues the theme of the loss of trust. Then we will read Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), to which a myriad of contemporary "noirs" (tech noir, sci-fi noir, AI noir, etc.) are indebted. In this work, nothing is what it appears to be, and not just reality but the self comprehending it should be mistrusted. Then we will enter the current century, treating Titanium Noir, (2023), a most interesting meditation on AI and a loss of trust in the human. 

In addition to studying the novels listed, students must be prepared to view a number of films, in Lecture and at home, and to discuss them in Seminar. A syllabus will be provided. Essay topics will be supplied. I have provided ISBN numbers but any editions -- including Kindle/e-book -- will suffice. We are reading SIX works but most are short and none is long.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: