The course aims at analyzing the detective fiction genre in its contemporary readings through primary texts and criticism by representative authors.
The course will analyze the evolution of the detective fiction genre in the contemporary period, in particular in its intersections with the juridical field in Peter Ackroyd’s and P.D. James’ novels. Specific attention will be devoted to the figure of the detective and the search for justice and truth, the characteristic tenets of the genre which are disrupted and re-read in the light of postmodern theories and assume a metanarrative dimension.
Bibliography:
Primary Texts (to be read in English, in any edition):
P. Ackroyd, Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem, 1995 [or its American edition titled The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. A Novel of the Limehouse Murders]
P.D. James, A Certain Justice, 1997
P. Ackroyd, Hawksmoor, 1985 (optional)
Opere critiche (le parti indicate)
- D. Carpi, L’ansia della scrittura. Parola e silenzio nella narrativa inglese contemporanea, Napoli, Liguori, 1995. (ch I)
- S. Onega, Metafiction and Myth in the Novels of Peter Ackroyd, Columbia, Camden House, 1999: ch. 2 and 4 (the parts related to the novels in the programme)
- D. Carpi, “Iconological Subversion of the law in P. D. James's A Certain Justice”, in «PÓLEMOS» , 2009 , pp. 28-35
- S. Fiorato, “The Theatricality of Law, Crime and Punishment in Peter Ackroyd’s The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. A Novel of the Limehouse Murders”, in «PÓLEMOS», 1/2012
Manuals: from the Victorian age to the contemporary period
- P. Bertinetti, a cura di, Storia della Letteratura Inglese, Torino, Einaudi, 2000
Primary texts are to be read in English.
Students unable to attend lectures are required to get in touch with the teachers before preparing for the exam.
Exam Method/Assessment:
Oral exam
