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Global Crime Narratives (ENGL40025)
HonoursPoints: 12.5Not available in 2022
From 2023 most subjects will be taught on campus only with flexible options limited to a select number of postgraduate programs and individual subjects.
To learn more, visit COVID-19 course and subject delivery.
Overview
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This subject looks at a range of crime narratives from around the world and across different media: short fiction, novels, ‘true crime’, memoir, film, and television. It will move chronologically from Poe to the present day, each crime narrative unfolding in radically different locations: an English village, the Tokyo underground, the Melbourne suburbs, and so on.
The subject is designed to introduce students to a number of different approaches to crimes of various kinds. It recognizes that crimes generate narratives. But crimes also generate frameworks of comprehension: philosophical, moral, ethical, criminal, psychoanalytical, familial, etc. The detective provides one of those frameworks, with a focus in particular on criminal profiling, character recognition, and moral agency. Crime narratives make us think about the limits of identity; they make us navigate our way across the extent of human action and reaction; and they always ask us to reflect on our proximity to the crime scene and the criminal act. Students will be asked to engage critically with these issues, negotiating the crime narratives covered in this subject and the frameworks of comprehension that have built around them.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, student should be able to:
- understand some of the key frameworks for comprehending crime narratives;
- understand histories of crime narratives; and
- appreciate the complexities involved in the representation of crime and responses to crime.
Last updated: 12 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 12 November 2022
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
A preliminary
| Mid semester | 30% |
A final essay
| End of semester | 70% |
Hurdle requirement: This subject has a minimum requirement of (or at least) 80% attendance at tutorials, seminars, or workshops. There is an expectation that students attend lectures, in person or via online delivery. All pieces of assessment must be submitted to pass this subject. For the purposes of meeting this hurdle requirement, each submitted assessment must be complete and constitute a genuine attempt to address the requirements of the task. (Complete not less than 50% of word count) | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Additional details
Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 2% per working day.
Last updated: 12 November 2022
Dates & times
Not available in 2022
Time commitment details
170 hours
Last updated: 12 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue, ‘The Mystery of Marie Roget’ and ‘The Purloined Letter’, Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1845)
A Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four (1890)
Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley (1955)
Alfred Hitchcock (dir.), Psycho (1960) – film
Michel Foucault, I, Pierre Rivière, having slaughtered my mother, my sister and my brother… A case of parricide in the 19th century (1975)
Thomas Harris, Red Dragon (1981) and David Slade (dir.), Hannibal (2013-14) – TV series
Haruki Murakami, Underground (1997-98)
Mark Brandon Read, Chopper: From the Inside (1991); and David Michod (dir), Animal Kingdom (2010) – film
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005)
Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007)
Chloe Hooper, The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island (2008)
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Specialisation (formal) English and Theatre Studies Specialisation (formal) English and Theatre Studies - Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
Subject coordinator approval required
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 12 November 2022