GERST 3290

Mean Streets: German Crime and Detective Fiction

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This class surveys the history and contemporary developments of crime and detective fiction in German. In addition, we may read a number of theoretical reflections on the figure of the detective, the history of police detection, and the literary crime and detective genre(s). The historical development of, and theoretical reflections on, the crime genre in the anglophone world will serve as points of comparison. We may also discuss relevant movies and radio plays, investigate their relation to literature, and analyze the specificity of each medium as well as its representational affinity with crime and detection. The readings will for the most part be in German and may include such authors as Gilbert Adair, Richard Alewyn, Friedrich Ani, Jakob Arjouni, Bertolt Brecht, Ernst Bloch, Jorge Luis Borges, Kurt Bracharz, Raymond Chandler, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, Friedrich D?rrenmatt, Friedrich Glauser, Wolf Haas, Peter Handke, Helmut Hei?nb?ttel, Paulus Hochgatterer, Philip Kerr, Georg Klein, Alfred Komarek, Siegfried Kracauer, Ross MacDonald, August Gottlieb Mei?er, Astrid Paprotta, Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas De Quincey, Ulrich Ritzel, Ferdinand von Schirach, Friedrich Schiller, Hansjorg Schneider, Martin Suter, Jan Costin Wagner.

Prerequisites any course at the 3000-3209-level in German or permission of instructor.

Distribution Requirements (CA-AG, LA-AG), (ALC-AS, FLOPI-AS)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025SP, 2022FA, 2019FA, 2017FA

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