Crime and the Victorian Novel

BA Course

Instructor

Prof. Elana Gomel

Phone

03-6409683

Office

Webb 510

E-mail

egomel@post.tau.ac.il

Office Hours

Wed. 14-16(by appointment)

Texts:

Primary:

Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas

Robert Louis Stevenson. The Strange Story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles

Secondary:

Julian Symons, Bloody Murder

Patricia Merrivale, Detecting Fiction

Elana Gomel, Bloodscripts

Other texts may be added/substituted during the course of the semester

Description: Detective or mystery fiction is undoubtedly one of the most popular genre of fiction today. But what is its origin? Why did it come into being in the Victorian era? What is the relationship between actual crime and its representation in literature? How did the Victorian obsessions with violence, lower classes, gender and social disarray impact the narrative convention of crime fiction as we know it today? In this course we will try to answer these questions by looking at a representative selection of Victorian crime novels and tracing the connection between mystery fiction and social history.

Requirements: two short papers, a midterm, and a final take-home exam.