Elementary Holmes: the Great Detective in Fiction and Film

BTAN32008BA-K3:Elementary Holmes: The Great Detective in Fiction and Film

Spring semester, 2015

Seminar, 2hrs, gradedInstructor: Hudácskó Brigitta

3st year BA, British trackOffice hour: Thursday 10.00-11.00, Room 104

Thursday, 08.00-09.40

Room 106, MainBuildingE-mail address:

Course description

The course is intended as a seminar focusing on the crime genre in fiction and on television, using the seminal figure of Sherlock Holmes (and his future incarnations) as the central point of investigation. Popular culture in general, and crime fiction and drama in particular allow for a multidisciplinary approach to examine complex social and cultural issues, and the heightened interest of the past decade in the crime genre provides an ample selection of material for discussion.

The agenda of the course is two-fold: on the one hand, it attempts to give an introduction to the origins of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and, more importantly, to crime fiction as an outlet for social/urban anxieties. On the other hand, it focuses on crime dramas featuring modern versions of Holmes, where we can observe how the image of the Great Detective has changed over time, and how the social and cultural issues raised in the series reflect current anxieties. The key topics discussed in the course of the seminar are as follows: crime fiction as social commentary; narration in crime fiction, the nature of the secret, crime drama on television, visual narration; addiction and seriality; privacy and surveillance, security, social paranoia; 9/11 and terrorism, the war on terror.

The seminars will be devoted to the close reading of the selected short stories and television episodes, thus, in the final analysis, another important professional aim of the seminar is to introduce the students to different strategies of close reading using a wide variety of theoretical and critical discourses, from television studies to cultural studies.

Requirements

Presence at classes: no more than three absences are allowed. In the case of a longer absence (either due to illness, or official leave), the tutor and the student will come to an agreement of how to solve the problem.

Assigned materials: The seminar format and the reading/viewing requirements suppose that the assigned texts are read and the films are watched for the classes. Tests on the assigned texts (including films!) can be expected at each seminar. The result of these tests contributes to the seminar grade (“minor tests”: 10%). You must pass at least 60% of these tests, otherwise your seminar is a failure (the grade is a one). You’ll be granted, though, one chance to make up for the failure of these minor tests at the end of the term as agreed with your course tutor.

NB.! The assigned materials will be available here:

Participation in classroom discussion: the student is expected to take an active part in classroom discussions. This activity contributes to the seminar grade by 20% of the overall achievement.

Endterm test: an objective test on the works discussed during the term (30%). The test must be written at the time scheduled in the syllabus. Failing to do so will count as course failure, and only one re-sit test will be scheduled to make up for the failure.

Term essay (research paper): the student is expected to write a take-home essay of about 2,000 to 2,200 words, related to the course in its approach and thematic concerns (40%).

The essay must be written in the form of a research paper. Secondary reading and scholarly documentation, conforming to the requirements of the MLA Style Sheet, are required (MLA style sheets and handbooks are available in the department library). In their research papers students are required to cite at least five proper academic sources like books, book chapters and/or journal articles of academic standard, that is, referenced secondary material should either be borrowed from the library or downloaded from an online database that meets scholarly requirements (such as JSTOR or EBSCO).Quotes taken from printed or online sources such as Wikipedia, Enotes, York Notes, etc. will NOT be accepted as relevant secondary material.

Plagiarism and academic dishonesty will be penalised as described in the Academic Handbook of the Institute (see also below). The essay is to be submittedby the defined deadline, otherwise the grade will be lowered (see below). The essay will only be accepted in a worprocessed (typed) format, and has to be submitted as a hard (printed) copy.

The cover sheet of the essay must contain the following statement: “Hereby,I certify that the essay conforms to international copyright and plagiarism rules and regulations,” and also the signature of the student.

Essay style-sheet:

for simple page references use brackets in the body of the text;

use notes only if you mean to add information that would seem a deviation in the text;

sample references in brackets:

(Smith 65); if there are several works by the same author choose a key word of the title of the book: (Smith, Good 65), or if it is an article: (Smith, “Further” 65).

sample bibliography entry:

referring to books: Smith, John. Good Ideas. Place: Publisher, Year.

referring to articles, poems, etc.:

in volumes: Smith, John. “Further Good Ideas”. Editor of volume (if relevant). Volume Title. Place: Publisher, Year.

in journals: Smith, John. “Further Good Ideas”. Title of Journal 2.4 (1996): pages.

Out of all the course components, only one re-sit will be granted; in case you fail in more than one component, the course is a failure.

Plagiarism and its consequences

Students must be aware that plagiarism is a crime which has its due consequences.

The possible forms of plagiarism:

1. word by word quotes from a source used as if they were one’s own ideas, without quotation marks and without identifying the sources;

2. ideas taken from a source, paraphrased in the essay-writer’s own words and used as if they were his/her own ideas, without identifying and properly documenting the source.

Plagiarism, depending on its seriousness and frequency, will be penalised in the following ways:

1. The percentage of the submitted paper will be reduced.

2. The essay will have to be rewritten and resubmitted.

3. In a serious case, this kind of academic dishonesty will result in a failure.

4. In a recurring, and serious case, the student will be expelled from the English major programme.

Late submission policy

1. Deadlines must be observed and taken seriously;

1. The essay submitted more than two weeks later than the deadline cannot be considered for course work;

1. The essay submitted in less than two weeks after the deadline will be penalised by a reduction in the percentage (the extent of the reduction is defined below: see “Grading Policy”); in exceptional and well-documented cases, the extension of deadlines can be requested of (negotiated with) the course tutor well in advance (definitely not after, or on the day of, the deadline).
2. If you submit your essay after the first (and before the final) deadline, proceed in the following way:

1. either submit it in person to your course tutor
2. or give it to any member of staff of IEAS, asking him/her to write the precise time of submission on the cover page; to sign the submission time; and to put the essay either in my postbox in Rm 111/1 or on my desk in 116/4. NEVER put essays in the box in the corridor, and certainly not without a colleague’s signature and indication of submission time!
3. if you finish your paper at the weekend, and Monday submission would matter from the point of view of how many points you would lose due to late submission, you are allowed to submit your research paper electronically, but even in that case, you have to submit your hard copy on the first working day; in this case, the cover of your paper must contain yet another declaration: “Hereby I declare that the electronically submitted version and the hard copy fully match each other.”

Assessment of the Research Papers

The essays must have a clear statement of theme, preferably in the form of a thesis paragraph, and all the further statements must be related to this central topic or question. The text (arguments, agreements and disagreements) must be organised coherently so that the point you make and your flow of thoughts must be clear for the reader. The essays must, naturally, be finished with a well articulated conclusion which is supposed to be the culmination of your proposed arguments.

The essays will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

• the articulateness of the thesis of the paper;
• the clarity of the position you take;
• the quality of the arguments;
• the use and integration of your secondary sources into the essay;
• the coherence of the structure;
• scholarly documentation;
• the level of your language.

The essays will not be evaluated on the basis of what your tutor’s position is in a certain (and often controversial) issue, so feel free to elaborate your own ideas—but do it in a sophisticated way.

GRADING POLICY

GRADING POLICY
minor tests / 10%
classroom work / 20%
objective test / 30%
term essay / 40%
total / 100%

Essay late submission reduction

Delay (days) / Reduction
1–2 / 2
3–5 / 5
6–9 / 10
10–14 / 15
Research paper evaluation
Statement of thesis / 5
Quality of argument / 10
Coherence of structure / 10
Scholarly documentation / 7
Level of language / 8
Total / 40

Grades

Percentage / Grade
87–100 / 5
75–86 / 4
63–74 / 3
51–62 / 2
0–50 / 1
Week / Date / Topic
1 / 19/02 / No class. The instructor is away.
2 / 26/02 / No class. The instructor is away.
3 / 05/03 / I am −−−−locked
Introduction: the origins of Sherlock Holmes and crime fiction.
Crime fiction as social commentary.
Reading assignment:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: “The Sign of Four”
4 / 12/03 / Unlocking the secret
Narration and story-telling in Sherlock Holmes short stories.
The nature and control of the secret in crime fiction.
The Great Detective as the keeper of the secret.
Reading assignment:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: “A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier”
5 / 19/03 / The Adventure of the Moving Picture
Classic adaptations: the Granada vision
Unlocking the secret on screen – how does detection translate to television?
Viewing:
“A Scandal in Bohemia” (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
6 / 26/03 / The Detective as the Addict I
Detection as addiction // Seriality as addiction
Metaphors of addiction
Viewing:
“Detox” (House, MD)
7 / 02/04 / Welcome to the mind palace: The Detective and the Panopticon
Introduction to surveillance
The Panopticon, principles of public surveillance
Reading assignment:
Michel Foucault: “Panopticism” (excerpts) (Discipline and Punish − The Birth of the Prison)
Viewing:
“A Study in Pink,” “His Last Vow” (Sherlock) (excerpts)
8 / 09/04 / The Detective as the Addict II
Detection and paranoia
The detective’s paranoid gaze
Viewing:
“Bullets” (The Finder)
9 / 16/04 / No class. Consultation week.
10 / 23/04 / A modern Sherlock I
Modern adaptations: Sherlock
Rewriting the Great Detective in a contemporary setting
Assignment:
“A Scandal in Belgravia” (Sherlock)
11 / 30/04 / A modern Sherlock II
Security and surveillance
The death of privacy
Reading assignment:
Julian Reid: “Logistical life: war, discipline, and the martial origins of liberal societies” (pp. 34-39)
Viewing:
“The Reichenbach Fall” (Sherlock)
*** ESSAY DEADLINE! ***
12 / 07/05 / A modern Sherlock III – The making of the Detective
The importance of being Watson
Viewing:
“The Many Mouths of Aaron Colville” (Elementary)
13 / TBA / Detection after 9/11 I
Detection in the age of terrorism
Activism, hacktivism, counter-surveillence
Anyonymus: (self-)policing the internet and beyond
Viewing:
“We Are Everyone,” “Art in the Blood” (Elementary)
Make-up class. Exact time and place to be discussed during the course of the seminar.
14 / TBA / End-term test.
Exact time and place to be discussed during the course of the seminar.