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American Detective

Session 5 - Sunday 8:00-9:30am
Eiben Hall 207
Presiding Officer: 
Paul Tayyar
  1. Bitter Laughter: The Sociology of Race and Rioting in Chester Himes's Harlem. Thomas Heise, McGill University

    This presentation situates the detective fiction of Chester Himes in the context of the inner-city riots of the 1960s and the contemporaneous sociological studies of so-called “black underclass” cultural pathology.

  2. "This Rock Turned Inside Out": Insularities of Hawaii Five-0. Stanley Orr, University of Hawai'i, West O'ahu

    Island crime stories illuminate detective thematics such as boundary, surveillance, and instrumentalism. With recourse to pretexts ranging from Shakespeare’s The Tempest to Biggers’s The House Without A Key, I analyze Hawaii Five-0, a police series that represents the apex of insular detection.

  3. Serial Frankensteins and the American Detection of Apocalypse. Martin Kevorkian, University of Texas, Austin

    Investigates recent revivifications of Frankenstein’s monster, paired with an American detective, in serialized narratives concerning the end of the world: Dean Koontz’s multi-novel Frankenstein (2005-), Tim Kring’s Heroes (2006-2010), Josh Friedman’s The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-9), and Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse (2009-10).

Session Type: 
Special Session
Session Status: 
Closed