Critical Theory of the Detective Novel

• To provide an overview of relevant theories of the detective novel, using examples of 20th and 21st century detective novels;
• To show the relationship between the forms of detective stories and latent and manifest literary representations;
• To explain the complex links between the role and meaning of detective novels and their socio-political context;
• To introduce students to the method of deconstruction and prepare them for independent analysis and interpretation of literary and cultural texts

No prerequisites.

Requirements for the exam: presence and active participation in lectures and the completion of a seminar paper with a presentation.

In the last decade, the detective novel has experienced a global renaissance and is also becoming an increasingly significant part of the Slovenian symbolic universe. This course is based on classical critical approaches to understanding the history of the detective novel as a popular, socially critical and conservative work of literature.

The first part of the course offers an overview of interdisciplinary theories of the detective novel, which intervene in critical cultural theory, literary theory, sociology and psychoanalysis. The course introduces the literary formulas and elements of the detective novel, the dichotomy between the classic and hard-boiled detective story, the genre of domestic noir, and the cultural dimensions of detective novels in the context of democratic and authoritarian societies.

The next part of the course consists of presenting and using the method of deconstruction of cultural representations on the examples of selected chapters of detective novels. Finally, students analyse a Slovenian or a foreign detective novel with the help of theory and of deconstruction, and also write a seminar paper.

Knowledge and understanding:
(Students ...)
- acquire knowledge of the basic theoretical dichotomies and concepts that constitute the epistemological foundations of critical reading;
- understand the structure and narrative logic of detective and crime genres;
- understand the importance of the links between the structure and content of a detective novel;
- learn about the history of the detective novel in Slovenia and internationally;
- master the basic elements of the theory of deconstruction.

Skills:
(Students ...)

• develop methodological, analytical and interpretative skills;
• develop the ability to independently create original deconstruction templates;
• develop the ability to combine critical theory, the method of deconstruction, literary representations and social context;
• develop the ability to identify genre formulas in literary and film texts.

• Adorno, Thedor, Horkheimer, Max (2002). Dialektika razsvetljenstva: filozofski fragmenti. Ljubljana: Studia Humanitatis.
• Cawelti, J. (1977). Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Eco, U. (1979) The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Katalog E-version
• Hall, S. (2003). The Work of Representation. V Hall, S (ur.), Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London; Thousand Oaks; New Delhi: SAGE, 13–74. Catalogue
• Komel, Mirt (2021). Detektivski memento umori. V Komel, Mirt, Predavanja o literaturi, Ljubljana: Založba FDV, 131–156. Catalogue
• Knight, S. (1980). Form and Ideology in Crime Fiction. Houndmills: Macmillan E-version
• Joyce, L., Sutton, H. (ur.). (2018). Domestic Noir: The New Face of 21st Century Crime Fiction. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 115–136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69338-5
• Pregelj Balog, B. (2003). Detektivka v sodobni slovenski in španski književnosti. V Hladnik, M., G. Kocijan (ur.), Obdobja: metode in zvrsti, 21, 221–230. Ljubljana: Center za slovenščino kot drugi tuji jezik pri Oddelku za slovenistiko Filozofske fakultete. Catalogue
• Pepper, A. (2016). Unwilling Executioner: Crime Fiction and the State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Catalogue
• Saval, V. J. (2020). Crime Fiction and Politics. V Allan, J. et al, The Routledge Companion to Crime Fiction, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 327–334.
• Žižek, S., R. Močnik (ur.) (1982). Memento umori. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije. Catalogue

Seminar paper 50 %
Exam 50 %

Assist. Prof. Primož Mlačnik, PhD is a pedagogue and researcher at the Center for the Humanities of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Nova Gorica. With the help of critical theory, methods of deconstruction and cultural studies of representations, he researches various aspects of European and Slovene modernist literature and contemporary Slovene popular detective novels. He has lectured on Popular Music and Media, Modern Literature and Social Ideologies, Theories of Symbolic Forms, Critical Theory of Culture, Mystic and Political in Christianity and Cultural Policies and Books in the European Union and Slovenia. As part of the TILDA project, he is researching a collection of letters by women modernist writers. He regularly participates in scientific conferences and symposia at home and abroad. He also works as a writer.

References:

Mlačnik, P. (2018). The Deconstruction of Freud's Theory of Melancholy. Družboslovne razprave, 34 (88), 113-131.
Mlačnik, P. (2019). Kulturistike – kulturološka branja beletristike. Slavia Centralis, 12 (2), 46–57.
Mlačnik, P. (2019). Kafka ˝Shanghai-Ed˝ : Orientalist China in Kafka´s fiction and Kafkaesque phenomena in China. European journal of interdisciplinary studies 5(2), str. 36-44.
Mlačnik, P. (2020). Poročilo o melanholiji: primer Kafka. Ljubljana: Založba FDV.
Mlačnik, P. (2020). Minor literature in the case of Brina Svit. Przekłady Literatur Słowiańskich 10 (1): 207-223.
Mlačnik, P. (2021). The influence of Franz Kafka's literature on aspects of critical cultural theory. Slavia Centralis 14 (1), 249-259.
Mlačnik, P. (2021). Kulturne študije in sodobni slovenski detektivski romani : obstoječe raziskave in možni raziskovalni pristopi. V: NIKOLOVSKI, Gjoko (ur.). Izzivi slavistike v 21. stoletju : 4. mednarodna znanstvena konferenca Slavistični znanstveni premisleki, [13. 5. - 15. 5. 2021, Maribor] : zbornik povzetkov, Mednarodna znanstvena konferenca Slavistični znanstveni premisleki, Maribor. 1. izd. Maribor: Univerza v Mariboru, Univerzitetna založba. 2021, str. 95-96.
Mlačnik, P. (2022). Udomačeni Slovenci v detektivskih romanih Avgusta Demšarja. Jezik in Slovstvo; sprejeto v objavo/ accepted for publication.