Abstract
Crime fiction is an engaging vehicle for the study of literature at all levels, as well as a tool for interdisciplinary inquiry. This chapter introduces approaches such as the historical development of the genre, focus on the detective/investigator as the locus of values, and crime fiction as a means to explore genre formation, genre theory, and narratology. Crime writing exists in a web of interdisciplinary possibilities that make it a rich basis for classroom collaborations with law, criminal justice, criminology, forensic science, as well as other less obvious subjects, and for multimedia exploration, including gaming, investigative podcasts and online film series, and finally as a prism enabling insights in other disciplines.
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Notes
- 1.
Jacqueline O’Connor, “Performing the Law in Contemporary Documentary Theater,” in Teaching Law and Literature, ed. Austin Sarat, Cathrine O. Frank, and Matthew Anderson (New York: Modern Language Association, 2011), 407.
- 2.
Ibid., 407–408.
- 3.
The juxtaposition of filmed versions of Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (2001) and The Laramie Project (2002) creates particularly exciting discussion. Both are based on interviews, but Deavere Smith performs all of the characters as part of a filmed one-woman play and The Laramie Project is performed by professional actors, some famous, as an HBO television movie. Discussion of performance style and the shaping of the documentary material can be very rich.
- 4.
Readers interested in exploring these options in more depth should consult Rebecca Martin, ed., Critical Insights: Crime and Detective Fiction (Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, 2013) or Edward J. Rielly, ed., Murder 101: Essays on the Teaching of Detective Fiction (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009).
- 5.
For further discussion of these possibilities, it is suggested that readers consult Michael Hviid Jacobsen, ed., Poetics of Crime: Understanding and Researching Crime and Deviance through Creative Sources (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014) and Angela M. Nickoli et al., “Pop Culture Crime and Pedagogy,” Journal of Criminal Justice Education 14, no. 1 (Spring 2003). While the latter deals with the use of mainstream films in the criminal justice classroom, many of the suggestions are applicable to the introduction of others kinds of crime texts.
- 6.
Readers are referred to the discussions in Beryl Blaustone, “Teaching Evidence: Storytelling in the Classroom,” University Law Review 41, no. 2 (1992); Kate Nace Day, “Stories and the Language of Law,” in The Future of Scholarly Writing: Critical Writings, edited by Angelika Bammer and Ruth-Ellen Boetcher (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015); Julie Stone Peters, “Law, Literature, and the Vanishing Real: On the Future of an Interdisciplinary Illusion,” PMLA 120, no. 2 (March 2005); Robert C. Power, “‘Just the Facts’: Detective Fiction in the Law School Curriculum,” in Murder 101: Essays on the Teaching of Detective Fiction, edited by Edward J. Rielly (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009); and Julie M. Spanbauer, “Using a Cultural Lens in the Law School Classroom to Stimulate Self-Assessment,” Gonzaga Law Review 48, no. 2 (2013), John Marshall Law School Institutional Repository, Faculty Scholarship, accessed June 29, 2017, http://repository.jmls.edu/facpubs/335/, for additional information.
- 7.
For more ideas, consult Rielly, ed., Murder 101, and Lindsay Steenberg, Forensic Science in Contemporary Popular American Culture: Gender, Crime and Science (New York: Routledge, 2013).
- 8.
“Game Design: Bachelor of Science,” Full Sail University, accessed June 29, 2017, https://www.fullsail.edu/degrees/game-design-bachelor.
- 9.
Steenberg, Forensic Science in Contemporary Popular American Culture, 1.
- 10.
Ibid., 1–2.
- 11.
See Ella Boyd, “Using Detective Fiction to Reinforce Problem Solving Strategies and the Scientific Method,” Yale National Initiative, accessed June 29, 2017, http://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_07.02.03_u.
- 12.
See ConnectEd: The California Center for College and Career, Crime Scene Investigation: Integrated Curriculum Unit on Forensics (Berkeley, CA: ConnectEd, 2010), accessed June 29, 2017, http://www.connectedcalifornia.org/files/LJCrimeSceneInvestigation_FullUnit.pdf.
- 13.
See Chrystal Bruce and John McBratney, Detective Fiction and Forensic Science: A Proposal, accessed June 29, 2017, http://webmedia.jcu.edu/cas/files/2015/04/ENW.Detective-Fiction-and-Forensic-Science1.pdf.
- 14.
See Suzanne Elvidge, “Forensic Cases: The Murder of Leeann Tiernan,” Explore Forensics, last modified December 20, 2016, http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/forensic-cases-murder-leanne-tiernan.html.
- 15.
See “Forensic Science for Beginners,” Explore Forensics, accessed June 29, 2017, http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/.
- 16.
Steenberg, Forensic Science in Contemporary Popular American Culture, 1.
- 17.
Jacobsen, “Introduction: Towards the Poetics of Crime: Contours of a Cultural, Critical and Creative Criminology,” in Poetics of Crime, 4.
Works Cited
Blaustone, Beryl. “Teaching Evidence: Storytelling in the Classroom.” American University Law Review 41, no. 2 (1992): 453–484.
Boyd, Ella. “Using Detective Fiction to Reinforce Problem Solving Strategies and the Scientific Method.” Yale National Initiative. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_07.02.03_u.
Bruce, Chrystal and John McBratney. Detective Fiction and Forensic Science: A Proposal. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://webmedia.jcu.edu/cas/files/2015/04/ ENW.Detective-Fiction-and-Forensic-Science1.pdf.
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Couch, Cullen. “Teaching the Narrative Power of Law: Program in Law and Humanities Sets Legal Study in Broad Context.” UVA Lawyer (Fall 2005). Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.law.virginia.edu/HTML/alumni/uvalawyer/f05/humanities.htm.
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Grand Theft Auto. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.rockstargames.com/grandtheftauto/.
Jacobsen, Michael Hviid. “Introduction: Towards the Poetics of Crime: Contours of a Cultural, Critical and Creative Criminology.” In Poetics of Crime: Understanding and Researching Crime and Deviance Through Creative Sources, edited by Michael Hviid Jacobsen, 1–25. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014.
Kaufman, Moisés. The Laramie Project. New York, NY: HBO Home Video, 2002, DVD.
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Nickoli, Angela M., Cindy Hendricks, James E. Hendricks, and Emily Osgood. “Pop Culture, Crime and Pedagogy.” Journal of Criminal Justice Education 14, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 149–162.
O’Connor, Jacqueline. “Performing the Law in Contemporary Documentary Theater.” In Teaching Law and Literature, edited by Austin Sarat, Cathrine O. Frank, and Matthew Anderson, 407–414. New York: Modern Language Association, 2011.
Peters, Julie Stone. “Law, Literature, and the Vanishing Real: On the Future of an Interdisciplinary Illusion.” PMLA 120, no. 2 (March 2005): 442–453.
Power, Robert C. “‘Just the Facts’: Detective Fiction in the Law School Curriculum.” In Murder 101: Essays on the Teaching of Detective Fiction, edited by Edward J. Rielly, 178–186. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009.
Rielly, Edward J., ed. Murder 101: Essays on the Teaching of Detective Fiction. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009.
Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, PBS video, 1:26, June 29, 2012. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/twilight-los-angeles-full-episode/3972/.
Spanbauer, Julie M. “Using a Cultural Lens in the Law School Classroom to Stimulate Self-Assessment.” Gonzaga Law Review 48, no. 2 (2013): 365. John Marshall Law School Institutional Repository, Faculty Scholarship. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://repository.jmls.edu/facpubs/335/.
Steenberg, Lindsay. Forensic Science in Contemporary American Popular Culture: Gender, Crime, and Science. New York: Routledge, 2013.
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Martin, R. (2018). Designing Crime Fiction Modules: The Literature Classroom and Interdisciplinary Approaches. In: Beyer, C. (eds) Teaching Crime Fiction. Teaching the New English. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90608-9_2
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