W25-13 Bringing Crime Literature to Light NEW
Class | Registration closed 12/15/2024
This class will break down the vast array of crime literature and its various guises from noir, pulp, police procedural and more into a practical guide that will help delineate characters and recognizable themes while exploring some of crime’s greatest authors.
In addition to standard crime writers such as Elmore Leonard, George Pellecanos, Dashiel Hammet and James Lee Burke, sidebars will include Shakespeare, Faulkner and great moviemakers.
The movie, Key Largo, will be shown and critical thought encouraged to enhance the understanding of this film in the crime genre.
Students will be encouraged to read excerpts from novels and examine a short story from Elmore Leonard out of his When The Women Come Out To Dance collection of short stories. The story is called "Sparks". The plan is to examine the story in detail, compare the plot to crime novels in general, use the characters in a study of characterization and use the other structures of the story to examine archetypes, stereotypes, plot twists and other aspects of the genre.
Students should have a knowledge of crime fiction or have an interest in developing a knowledge of crime fiction.
Jack Wallingford
Known as “the city that lights and hauls the world,” Schenectady, New York, was where I was born. My parents wrenched me out of this environment when I was young and moved me to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I floundered through school until I landed at Kent State University, graduated with an MA and started my first professional job at the Plain Dealer. Today, I am a retired teacher and an avid reader and writer.