Current active subject description (last updated 2024/25)
Crime Fiction
ENG2007
Current active subject description (last updated 2024/25)
Crime Fiction
ENG2007
Who did it? Why did they do it? And does crime pay? Join Crime Fiction and discover how crime novels function as important social and philosophical metaphors for our darker impulses, and our simultaneous desire to understand and control these.
Crime Fiction is an in-depth review and examination of one of the most compelling genres of American and British literature, and one which maintains significant worldwide interest and is an important part of the cultural landscape. By focusing on the origin of crime stories, and the development of the genre throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and into the present, with biographical, historical, and critical connections made between the authors and their work, students will gain new appreciation for the crime genre, and a greater understanding of how crime and detection serve as important social and philosophical metaphors for our darker impulses, and our simultaneous desire to understand and control these.
Higher Education Entrance Qualification, acceptance into the English for Bachelor of English or other bachelor programmes at Nord University, and/or international / exchange student status at Nord University.
Requirements for degree progression (in BAENG): Acceptance into the Bachelor of English program or English One-Year program with adequate course progression (at least 45 ECTS passed). The course is also open to international exchange students at Nord University and as a single subject.
Knowledge:
- Familiarity with and contextual background for selected works of American and British crime fiction.
- Broad-based knowledge of central American and British authors’s biographies, secondary criticism, and their respective contributions to the genre of crime fiction.
Skills:
- Reading widely with an aesthetic and critical gaze with the purpose of making relevant comparisons and judgments about crime fiction.
- Ability to reflect critically upon texts in several genres and come to independent and relevant scholarly conclusions, using secondary references where appropriate;
- Placing works by American and British crime writers into a larger socio-historical context, and more specifically with the perspectives of politics and philosophy.
General Competencies:
- Engagement with the course material in an independent and critical context;
- Development of a more sophisticated written and oral English.
No costs beyond semester fee and course literature.
Compulsory for students in Bachelor of English. The course is also offered as an elective outside of these programmes.
The teaching will be part lectures, part seminars, with follow-up activities such as quizzes on Canvas where applicable. Quizzes and other learning activities need to be attempted but not necessariy passed to count as approved.
There will be an internal evaluation of the course near the end of term. Centrally administered course evaluations are an important part of the university's quality assurance system and students are strongly encouraged to take part.
Compulsory participation (OD): Attendance (85%): comprises 0/100 grading scale Approved / Not Approved
Assessment task (AK): 8 quizzes, 1 writing activity, and one role playing or alternative learning activity, grading scale Approved / Not Approved, comprises 0/100 of the grade
Compulsory participation and assessment tasks must be approved to receive the final grade.
Take-home examination (HJ): a two-week home exam on a relevant topic, comprises 100/100 of the grade, grading scale A - F
Generating an answer using ChatGPT or similar artificial intelligence and submitting it wholly or partially as one's own answer is considered cheating
It is recommended that students have taken the English One-Year Program or a similar introductory survey program, including a class in research and writing, before proceeding with a more advanced class.
Subject language
English
Credits
10
Study location
Bodø
Responsible faculty
The Faculty of Education and Arts
Course coordinator
