CLOAK AND DAGGER: DETECTIVES AND SPIES

FROM SHERLOCK HOLMES TO JAMES BOND (AND BEYOND)

SYLLABUS FOR SPRING 2017

Instructor: Marco Arnaudo (marnaudo@indiana.edu)

Instructor Office Hours: Wedn, 11am-1pm, GA 3166
Associate Instructors: Lucia Gemmani (lgemmani@indiana.edu), Anna Love
(annlove@indiana.edu)
Associate Instructors Office Hours: Lucia Gemmani: Mon, Wedn, 12:00-1:00pm, French &
Italian, GA 3rd Floor West Main Area;
Anna Love: Mon, Wed, 10:00-11:00 am, French & Italian, GA 3150
Lectures: Mon and Wedn, 1:25pm-2:15pm, JH A100
Discussion Sections:
Lucia Gemmani: Fri, 12:20-1:10; 1:25-2:15; 2:30-3:20, BH 247.
Anna Love: Thur, 1:25-2:15 (BH 332); 2:30-3:20 (BH 235); 3:35-4:25 (BH 335)

CLASS REQUIREMENTS AT A GLANCE

- attend class regularly and take notes during lectures

- complete all required readings before the lecture for which they are assigned
- watching the movies on schedule before the lecture for which they are assigned
- attend discussion sections regularly, be well prepared on the material assigned, and contribute
to the discussion by sharing perceptions and responding to observations made by others
- 9 short quizzes and a final examination on class lectures, readings, and movies
- 3 critical essays of 3-4 pages, the first of which may be rewritten for an improved grade
- turn in all written work on time

BREAKDOWN OF THE FINAL GRADE

- Attendance to lecture: 5%
- Attendance, participation and contribution to the discussion section: 15%
- Short quizzes: 5%
- First paper and optional rewrite: 15%
- Second paper: 20%
- Third paper: 20%
- Final examination: 20%

1
GENERAL INFORMATION

Attendance: You are expected to attend all lectures and discussion sections insofar as is
humanly possible. Attendance will be taken during all or most lectures and discussion sections.
Unless you have a documented illness or family emergency, your absence from a discussion
section will be considered as unexcused. You have 2 free unexcused absences from sections,
no questions asked. For each unexcused absence beyond these, the final course grade is lowered
by 5%.
Attendance will also be taken during lectures. Unless you have a documented illness or family
emergency, your absence from a lecture will be considered as unexcused. You have 2 free
unexcused absences from lecture, no questions asked. For each unexcused absence beyond these,
the final course grade is lowered by 1%.
Arriving to lecture or discussion section after the door is shut results in a late. Three lates
equal one unexcused absence. Leaving class early without justification counts the same as a
late. Further sanctions will be applied for coming to class particularly late or leaving
particularly early.

Missed classes: Excused absences do not discount the material that was discussed during the
missed class nor the readings / movies for the day. Any time you miss a lecture or a discussion
section, you are still expected to catch up with the rest of the class, know the materials assigned
for the days you missed, and learn the key points that were discussed during class activities. For
this reason, it is the students responsibility to borrow detailed notes from a classmate and learn
the covered material as soon as possible after the absence. Please make sure you have the contact
of at least one or two other students in the class, so that you can rely on each other in case of an
absence. It is also the students responsibility to present the instructor with the documentation
intended to justify any possible absences.

Preparation: This syllabus assumes that you will be reading texts and watching movies ahead
of class meetings. It is important that you are prepared on the assigned materials by the day for
which they are scheduled. Please keep up with the required tasks according to schedule.
You can access the readings in any way you see fit (purchasing them, renting them, borrowing
them from the library, using legal! online sources etc). As for the movies, you can watch them
by joining the IU BOX folder at the following link:
https://iu.box.com/s/945j99ym07u03wuzkuq7j1x19nmwk39u .
The only exception is the required episode of the TV show Sherlock, which is available on
Netflix. Most of you probably have Netflix, or can watch the episode with a friend. If you have
trouble accessing the episode, please let us know.

Partecipation: Attending your discussion sections does not generate any points towards the final
grade per se. Rather, attending class is the required condition to start earning points by
participating to class activities. Participation points will not be based on your physical presence
during discussion sections but on your answering questions, volunteering comments, responding
to other students insights, asking questions when puzzled, etc. A good grade in this category is

2
earned by participating actively, not merely by drifting along with the tide. Jump at every
opportunity to volunteer and contribute to class activities! Take all class activities and
discussions seriously. Treat your teacher and colleagues with respect at all times.
You are not required to participate actively during lectures, but you are expected to pay attention
and to keep a respectful attitude.
Sleeping, texting, using the internet, chatting, provoking, and other types of distracting or
disruptive behavior are not welcome in the classroom, and will affect your grade on
participation.

Quizzes: 10 quizzes that cover lectures, readings, and movies will be given in the discussion
sections. No make-up quizzes will be given for unexcused absences. We will count 9 out of 10
quizzes during the term. The format of the quizzes will be announced during lecture. Each quiz
will cover readings, movies, and class material from the beginning of the semester OR the
previous quiz, whichever is closest.

Final Examination: A final examination covering the entire course (books, lectures, films, and
discussions) will take place on Wedn, May 3 r d , 5-7 pm, in our usual lecture room. The
format of the exam will be discussed later in the semester.

Critical Papers: A few paper topics will be announced approximately one week before each
paper is due. You will be required to choose one of these topics and develop it into a 3-4 pages
critical paper presenting a personal argument. Your personal argument should be an idea that can
be expressed in one or two sentences. To help you select and define your argument, we request
that you present it and graphically underline it in your paper.
Essays must be written in Word using Times New Roman, font 12, double spaced, no extra space
between paragraphs, no indentations, page numbers at the bottom, a one-line header with your
name. Please do not try to make your paper look longer by manipulating the formatting of the
document. We can tell!
The beginning of your weekly discussion section marks your deadline for submitting a paper in
the week for which a paper is due.
Papers must be submitted BOTH in hardcopy during the discussion section AND via
http://turnitin.com (see below for more info on this web tool). You can improve the grade on the
first paper by submitting a new version of your work within a week from receiving the first
grade.
Late papers will not be accepted without an official justification and will result in an F grade for
that assignment.

For details and suggestions about how to construct a successful paper, please refer to the
appendix at the end of this syllabus.

*Turnitin.com: If this is the first time you use this web tool, please begin by viewing the online
tutorial at http://turnitin.com/static/training.html (click on Student Video).
To register you will need the following information:
Turnitin class ID: 14276388
Turnitin class enrollment password: Raven

3
In registering remember to use your official IU email, and to use your real name and last name.

Plagiarism: Please remember that plagiarism is a serious academic offense and must be avoided
at all costs. If you are not sure of what the I.U. definition of plagiarism is, or want to know more
about how to avoid it, you are strongly encouraged to visit the following page:
http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/
If you are found guilty of plagiarism, at the very least you will receive an F for your plagiarized
assignment and your final grade on participation will be lowered. The number of participation
points lost will depend on the severity of the committed plagiarism. In particularly serious cases
(like for a paper entirely or for the most part plagiarized), a single offense may result in a grade
of F for the class.
If you are found guilty of plagiarism a second time, you will receive an F as your final grade for
the class. No excuses, no exceptions.
All cases of suspected plagiarism will be reported to the Office of Students Ethics, which may
decide to apply further sanctions.

Religious Observances: Indiana University respects the right of all students to observe their
religious holidays and will make reasonable accommodations, upon request, for such
observances. If a conflict with a religious observance exists, a student must make a request for a
reasonable accommodation for that observance by the end of the second week of the course.

MISCELLANEOUS REMINDERS

- Students are responsible for keeping themselves informed about the assignments, for getting
notes from a classmate in case they miss lecture or section, and for presenting the instructor with
the official documentation to justify their absence.

- If anything in the present syllabus or in the general procedures or requirements of the class is
unclear, it is the students responsibility to contact the teacher and ask for clarifications so that
readings and assignments can still be completed before they are due. HELP IS AVAILABLE, and
happily given, but it must be requested by the student in advance.

- If you need to send us an email, please contact the appropriate person directly (the professor or
your associate instructor). Do not send messages to any other mailbox within the IU system as
we do not monitor them regularly. We cannot take responsibility for unanswered messages sent
anywhere but to our email addresses listed on this syllabus. Monday through Friday we are
usually able to answer your emails within a 24-hour period often much faster than that, but,
just in case, please allow 24 hours for a reply. Emails sent after Friday at 5pm will be answered
during the weekend, whenever possible, or on Monday.

- Grades will not be communicated by email or posted online in order to protect the students
privacy. Even password-protected online locations are not so safe when you consider the amount
of personal pages that are inadvertently left open in public places every day. We do want you to
know how you are doing in class, but we will only discuss such matters in person. Feel free to

4
talk to us immediately after class or during office hours, or to request an appointment if you want
to discuss any aspect of your performance.

- Take copious notes about the content of all lectures, readings, movies, and discussions. Identify
the key facts and concepts of the topic(s) being presented and make sure to write down as much
as you need to recall them later. Recent pedagogical studies have positively demonstrated a
connection between effective learning and taking personal notes. It is not just a matter of being
able to study ones own notes later; it is the process of taking notes ITSELF that facilitates
learning! So please take your own notes and do not rely on copies of others notes unless no
other option is possible.

- The use of laptops, phones, tablets, and in general anything with an on/off switch is not allowed
during ANY class activity (lectures & discussion sessions). Just to clarify, this means that you
should take your notes on paper using pen or pencil. Your mental focus should be on class
activities; if you have a question during your discussion section feel free to ask it whenever
appropriate you dont need to google it. And you can wait until the end of the class to share on
social media how totally awesome the class was!

COURSE MATERIALS

Textbooks ***All texts are available at IMU, TIS, and Eigenmann Bookstores***
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, volume 1 (Bantam)
Agatha Christie, Peril at End House (Berkeley Mystery)
Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep (Vintage Books)
Friedrich Drrenmatt, The Pledge (University of Chicago Press)
Laura Lippman, The Girl in the Green Raincoat (William Morrow, 2011)
Eric Ambler, A Coffin for Dimitrios (Vintage Books)
Ian Fleming, Casino Royale (Thomas and Mercer)
John Le Carr, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Penguin Books)

Movies
John Huston, The Maltese Falcon, 100 min (1941)
Howard Hawks, The Big Sleep, 114 min (1946)
Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window, 112 min (1954)
Alfred Hitchcock, North by Northwest, 136 min (1959)
Terence Young, From Russia with Love, 115 min (1963)
Sidney Lumet, Deathtrap, 116 min (1982)
Martin Campbell, Casino Royale, 144 min (2006)
Billy Ray, Breach , 110 min (2007)
Guy Ritchie, Sherlock Holmes, 128 min (2009)
Paul McGuigan, Sherlock: A Study in Pink, 88 min (2010)

5
Texts available online

Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder:

http://www.en.utexas.edu/amlit/amlitprivate/scans/chandlerart.html

Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles: http://sirconandoyle.com/the-hound-of-the-

baskervilles/

Poe, The Murders in the Rue Morgue: http://poestories.com/read/murders

Poe, The Mystery of Marie Rogt: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/m_roget.html

The Detection Club Oath: http://cburrell.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/oath-of-detection/

Van Dine, Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories: http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/vandine.htm

W. Somerset Maugham, The Traitor: http://www.unz.org/Pub/MaughamWSomerset-1934v01-

00539

CALENDAR

I. The Concept of Genre and the Birth of the Detective Story

Monday, January 9th

Introduction to the class

Wednesday, January 11th

Texts: Poe, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Mystery of Marie Rogt (online)

II: The Victorian Detective: Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes

Monday, January 16th

No class in observance to MLK Day. But please during the weekend complete the reading below:
Text: Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories I: A Study in Scarlet,
part I, Being a Reprint

Wednesday, January 18th

Text: Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories I: A Study in Scarlet,
part II, The Country of the Saints
Film: Paul McGuigan, Sherlock: A Study in Pink (2010). Available on Netflix, not the IU box.

6
QUIZ

Monday, January 23rd

Text: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, chapters 1-8 (online)

Wednesday, January 25th

Text: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, chapters 9-15 (online)
Film: Guy Ritchies Sherlock Holmes (2009)
QUIZ

Monday, January 30th

Texts: Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories I: A Scandal in
Bohemia; The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle; The Adventure of the Speckled Band;
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches; The Final Problem.

III. Agatha Christie and the English Golden Age

Wednesday, February 1st

Text: Christie, Peril at End House, chapters 1-7
QUIZ

Monday, February 6th

Text: Christie, Peril at End House, chapters 8-14; The Detective Club Oath (online)

Wednesday, February 8th

Text: Christie, Peril at End House (chapters 9-22); Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories
by S. S. Van Dine (online)
Film: Sidney Lumets Deathtrap (1982)

***FIRST PAPER DUE IN DISCUSSION SECTIONOPTIONAL REWRITE AFTER

GRADE IS RECEIVED***

IV. The American Hard-Boiled Detective and Film Noir: Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe

Monday, February 13th

Text: Chandler, The Big Sleep (chapters 1-12, pp. 1-62); The Simple Art of Murder (online)

Wednesday, February 15th

Text: Chandler, The Big Sleep (chapters 13-19, pp. 62-119)
Film: John Hustons The Maltese Falcon (1941)
QUIZ

Monday, February 20th

7
Text: Chandler, The Big Sleep (chapters 20-25, pp. 119-169)

Wednesday, February 22nd

Chandler, The Big Sleep (chapters 26-32, pp. 169-231)
Film: Howard Hawks The Big Sleep (1946)
QUIZ

V. The Metaphysical Detective Story

Monday, February 27th

Text: Drrenmatt, The Pledge (chapters 1-16)

Wednesday, March 1st

Text: Drrenmatt, The Pledge (chapters 17-30)
QUIZ

VI. The Postmodern Remake

Monday, March 6th

Text: Laura Lippman, The Girl in the Green Raincoat (chapters 1-8)

Wednesday, March 8th

Text: Laura Lippman, The Girl in the Green Raincoat (chapters 9-15)
Film: Alfred Hitchcocks Rear Window (1954)
QUIZ

SPRING BREAK!!

VII. The Birth and Development of the Spy Story

Monday, March 20th

Text: Ambler, A Coffin for Dimitrios (chapters 1-4, pp. 9-72)

Wednesday, March 22nd

Text: Ambler, A Coffin for Dimitrios (chapters 5-8, pp. 73-152)
***SECOND PAPER DUE IN DISCUSSION SECTION***

Monday, March 27th

Text: Ambler, A Coffin for Dimitrios (chapters 9-11, pp. 153-225)

Wednesday, March 29th

Text: Ambler, A Coffin for Dimitrios (chapters 12-15, pp. 226-304)
Film: Alfred Hitchcocks North by Northwest (1959)

8
VIII. James Bond, Agent 007

Monday, April 3rd

Text: Fleming, Casino Royale (chapters 1-9)

Wednesday, April 5th

Text: Fleming, Casino Royale (chapters 10-17)
Film: Terence Youngs From Russia with Love (1963)
QUIZ

Monday, April 10th

Text: Fleming, Casino Royale (chapters 18-27)

IX. The Anti-Heroic Spy

Wednesday, April 12h

Text: W. Somerset Maugham, The Traitor (online)
Film: Martin Campbells Casino Royale (2006)
QUIZ

Monday, April 17th

Text: Le Carr, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (chapters 1-8)

Wednesday, April 19th

Text: Le Carr, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (chapters 9-15)
Film: Billy Rays Breach (2007)
***THIRD PAPER DUE IN DISCUSSION SECTION ***

Monday, April 24th

Text: Le Carr, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (chapters 16-26)

Wednesday, April 26th

Reflections on the topics of the course
Discussion sections meet regularly
QUIZ

Final Exam

May 3 rd , 5-7 pm, in our regular lecture classroom (see Office of the Registrar website). The
exam will be handwritten.

APPENDIX

9
 The Art of Constructing a Successful Paper

Several times during the semester you will be required to choose a topic related to our class
materials and develop it into a CRITICAL paper presenting an ORIGINAL argument / thesis.
Your paper must mainly deal with materials covered between the previous paper or the beginning
of the course (whichever applies) and the day the paper is due (included). Please feel free to
contact the teacher and/or the Writing Tutorial Services to discuss your argument in advance.

The structure of your paper should be entirely functional to the EXPLANATION AND
DEMONSTRATION OF YOUR ARGUMENT, and must not rely on a simple description of
personal feelings or emotions. Your argument must be grounded in the materials you discuss, and
must be DEMONSTRABLE through examples taken from those same materials. The argument
of a strong paper is usually an idea that can be expressed in one or two sentences. Phrase your
argument in a clear and concise fashion. Failure to find and present a convincing argument will
cause your grade for the assignment to be lowered.

Avoid repeating or reworking arguments discussed during lecture presentations, class activities,
or your previous papers, and try to identify a new argument for each paper. Your argument
SHOULD NOT BE OBVIOUS (Holmes is the protagonist of this Holmes story is accurate, but
not a good argument). On the other hand, DO NOT DISTORT your materials just to be original
(Gandalf is the protagonist of this Holmes story is very original, but not a good argument).

BE FAIR to your materials in the selection and demonstration of your argument! This means that
your discourse should take all relevant elements from your materials into account. Do not just
give things a spin, and avoid overemphasizing the elements that support your thesis and
downplaying or ignoring those that go against it. This may force you to tweak or change your
thesis as you go, but it is still a small price to pay to ensure that your argument is sound,
convincing, and respectful of the materials you are discussing. Remember: a good argument
IDENTIFIES something that was in the text already, whereas a specious argument IMPOSES a
superficially plausible but ultimately inaccurate reading on the original materials.

DO NOT GENERALIZE! Talk about the specific texts or movies you are covering; offer
abundant and detailed examples. For instance, avoid talking about Holmes or Watson in general,
and discuss them within the context of some specific stories (say, Holmes in A Study in Scarlet,
or Watson in The Sign of Four). Make sure that everything you say can be CHECKED
AGAINST A RELIABLE SOURCE, be it a primary text, a critical essay, or an online source.
Double check everything you see on Wikipedia: nothing you see there should be taken at face
value. You are responsible for the accuracy of every statement you make in your paper.

Remember that your reader (the instructor) already knows the materials you are discussing, so
please dont use precious time and space to introduce the plot of the stories. LIMIT YOUR
SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS to what is strictly necessary to prove your thesis. Extra
research is allowed but not required to complete the papers.

10