This course focuses our attention on six novels (and three short stories) in order to explore the birth and growth of the thriller. In discussion, you may wish to refer to additional books and films (and perhaps television series) which contribute to questions about war, on subjects such as: prevention of and preparedness for war, and the importance of intelligence; espionage and adventure as templates which, in Britain, involve assumptions about social class, amateurism, and gender; and current world problems such as people trafficking and ecology. Please do your best to have read the set texts before we start and feel free to bring relevant texts with you (always a good idea to put your name in these!). We will probably have a variety of different editions with us, so it's a good idea to note passages by chapter and the first words of the paragraph concerned.
Course programme
Friday 4 December 2015
Please plan to arrive between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms.
19:00 Dinner
20:30 - 22:00 Erskine Childers, The Riddle of the Sands (1903)
22:00 Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Saturday 5 December 2015
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 - 10:30 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 'Adventure of the Second Stain', 'Bruce-Partington Papers', 'His Last Bow'
10:30 Coffee
11:00 - 12:30 John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) Please watch the film in advance of the course
12:30 Free
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Free
16:00 Tea
16:30 - 18:00 Amateurs: Helen MacInnes, Assignment in Brittany (1942)
18:00 Free
18:30 Dinner
20:00 - 21:30 Professionals: John Le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion
Sunday 6 December 2015
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 - 10:30 Trafficking: Eva Dolan, Long Way Home (2014)
10:30 Coffee
11:00 - 12:30 Eco-Thriller: Oliver Truc, Forty Days without Shadow (2014 [2013]) [trans. from the French by Louise Rogers Lalaurie]
12:30 Free
12:45 Lunch
The course will disperse after lunch
