Evolution of the Literary Detective

The detection of crime has been a subject in literature since the time of the Bible and Oedipus Rex. Mark Schenker, Senior Associate Dean in Yale College, will lecture on the evolution of the detective in the literature of the English-speaking world, from origins in the 19th century in the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins and Arthur Conan Doyle, through classics of the early 20th century (by authors as different as Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammett), to the development of the police procedurals that rose to prominence after WW II.  Along the way, he will consider influences as varied as religious myth, the Western, film noir, and contemporary television. Registration for this program begins on September 2nd.