Mystery & Crime Literature Resources
Agatha Christie:
(Although these links below are from a comercial web site, the resources are excellent:)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: His Life, All His Works and More: "Sometimes a spiritualist, and always a writer and a true Englishman, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales of detection and fantasy have delighted readers for well over a century. Lovers of his work will enjoy this site, and they can feel free to browse through a number of the Sherlock Holmes tales here
along with the complete full novels. Those who are less acquainted with Doyle's life and times may wish to start by reading the "About Sir Conan Doyle" area. Here they will find an extended biographical essay on Doyle and a list of his works. Then visitors will want to browse through his stories at their leisure. Visitors who are unfamiliar with the tales of Holmes may wish to start by reading "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" and "A Scandal in Bohemia" (Copyright 1994-2008 Internet Scout Project - http://scout.wisc.edu). -
Discovering Arthur Conan Doyle: A Community Reading Project. Sponsored by Stanford University. Discovering Arthur Conan Doyle offers downloadable (pdf) facsimiles of two early Holmes stories, “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Speckled Band”; the nine-part novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles; and the famous “last” encounter between Holmes and Moriarty, “The Final Problem,” just as they were originally printed and illustrated in The Strand Magazine. The site also offers a wealth of richly illustrated background information on these stories and their creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
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Sherlockian.net: This venerable yet active metasite offers comprehensive links to everything in 221B Baker Street and beyond. Categories include the original Sherlock Holmes stories, Arthur Conan Doyle, major Sherlockian sites, actors and films, books and libraries, parodies, and Victorian Britain.
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The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle might not have invented the detective story, certainly his numerous works devoted to the sophisticated observations and deductions of Sherlock Holmes and his companion John Watson are some of the most beloved contributions to the genre. Launched several years ago, the Web site is frequently updated, and offers a nice selection of materials that relate the story of Doyle's own life and the many adventures of Holmes and Watson. From the main page, visitors can read about Who's Who in the elaborate world of Sherlock Holmes, browse a list of the stories featuring Holmes and Watson, and read about the death of Sherlock Holmes. Interestingly enough, Doyle's decision to end the storied life of Holmes led 20,000 people to the magazine in which his final story appeared to cancel their subscriptions. The site is rounded out by an essay that describes Doyle's intense belief in spiritualism and some brief discussion of his other works of fiction, most notably The Lost World (Copyright 1994-2007 Internet Scout Project - http://scout.wisc.edu).
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Arthur Conon Doyle and Spiritualism: discusses Doyle's interest in the supernatural and psychic research.
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A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection: A fan site with "reading lists and essays on great mysteries," includes discussions of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, and sensation fiction such as Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret.
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Gaslight.com, a Web site devoted to mystery and supernatural fiction, offers a wonderful selection of Victorian and early twentieth-century Sherlock Holmes parodies and pastiches. Their collection of online texts also offers a number of Victorian articles about spiritualism.
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Victorian Crime Fiction, An Introduction: This scholarly overview and bibliography by Christopher Pittard of the University of Exeter provides an overview of the Victorian fascination with mystery, detective, crime and sensation fiction. This page is part of a larger site called Crimeculture.com, an academic internet site on crime fiction, film and graphic art, which includes (among many helpful resources) an annotated bibliography.
Plots: The "Basic" Plots in Literature
People often say that there are only a certain number of basic plots in all of literature, and that any story is really just a variation on these plots. Depending on how detailed they want to make a "basic" plot, different writers have offered a variety of solutions. Here are some of the ones we’ve found:
1 Plot: Attempts to find the number of basic plots in literature cannot be resolved any more tightly than to describe a single basic plot. Foster-Harris claims that all plots stem from conflict. He describes this in terms of what the main character feels: "I have an inner conflict of emotions, feelings.... What, in any case, can I do to resolve the inner problems?" (p. 30-31) This is in accord with the canonical view that the basic elements of plot revolve around a problem dealt with in sequence: "Exposition - Rising Action - Climax - Falling Action - Denouement". (Such description of plot can be found in many places, including: Holman, C. Hugh and William Harmon. A Handbook to Literature. 6th ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1992.) Foster-Harris’ main argument is for 3 Plots (which are contained within this one), described below.
3 Plots: Foster-Harris. The Basic Patterns of Plot. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959. Foster-Harris contends that there are three basic patterns of plot (p. 66):
- ’Type A, happy ending’"; Foster-Harris argues that the "Type A" pattern results when the central character (which he calls the "I-nitial" character) makes a sacrifice (a decision that seems logically "wrong") for the sake of another.
- ’Type B, unhappy ending’"; this pattern follows when the "I-nitial" character does what seems logically "right" and thus fails to make the needed sacrifice.
- ’Type C,’ the literary plot, in which, no matter whether we start from the happy or the unhappy fork, proceeding backwards we arrive inevitably at the question, where we stop to wail." This pattern requires more explanation (Foster-Harris devotes a chapter to the literary plot.) In short, the "literary plot" is one that does not hinge upon decision, but fate; in it, the critical event takes place at the beginning of the story rather than the end. What follows from that event is inevitable, often tragedy. (This in fact coincides with the classical Greek notion of tragedy, which is that such events are fated and inexorable.)
7 Plots 7 basic plots as remembered from second grade by IPL volunteer librarian Jessamyn West:
1. [wo]man vs. nature
2. [wo]man vs. [wo]man
3. [wo]man vs. the environment
4. [wo]man vs. machines/technology
5. [wo]man vs. the supernatural
6. [wo]man vs. self
7. [wo]man vs. god/religion
20 Plots: Tobias, Ronald B. 20 Master Plots. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1993.
(ISBN 0-89879-595-8) This book proposes twenty basic plots:
1.Quest
2.Adventure
3.Pursuit
4.Rescue
5.Escape
6.Revenge
7.The Riddle
8.Rivalry
9.Underdog
10. Temptation
11. Metamorphosis
12. Transformation
13. Maturation
14. Love
15. Forbidden Love
16. Sacrifice
17. Discovery
18. Wretched Excess
19. Ascension
20. Descension
36 Plots Polti, Georges. The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations. trans. Lucille Ray.
Polti claims to be trying to reconstruct the 36 plots that Goethe alleges someone named [Carlo] Gozzi came up with. (In the following list, the words in parentheses are our annotations to try to explain some of the less helpful titles.):
1.Supplication (in which the Supplicant must beg something from Power in authority)
2.Deliverance
3.Crime Pursued by Vengeance
4.Vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred
5.Pursuit
6.Disaster
7.Falling Prey to Cruelty of Misfortune
8.Revolt
9.Daring Enterprise
10. Abduction
11. The Enigma (temptation or a riddle)
12. Obtaining
13. Enmity of Kinsmen
14. Rivalry of Kinsmen
15. Murderous Adultery
16. Madness
17. Fatal Imprudence
18. Involuntary Crimes of Love (example: discovery that one has married one’s mother, sister, etc.)
19. Slaying of a Kinsman Unrecognized
20. Self-Sacrificing for an Ideal
21. Self-Sacrifice for Kindred
22. All Sacrificed for Passion
23. Necessity of Sacrificing Loved Ones
24. Rivalry of Superior and Inferior
25. Adultery
26. Crimes of Love
27. Discovery of the Dishonor of a Loved One
28. Obstacles to Love
29. An Enemy Loved
30. Ambition
31. Conflict with a God
32. Mistaken Jealousy
33. Erroneous Judgement
34. Remorse
35. Recovery of a Lost One
36. Loss of Loved Ones.
silva rhetoricae (The Forest of Rhetoric)
This online rhetoric, provided by Dr. Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University, is a guide to the terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric. Sometimes it is difficult to see the forest (the big picture) of rhetoric because of the trees (the hundreds of Greek and Latin terms naming figures of speech, etc.) within rhetoric.
This site is intended to help beginners, as well as experts, make sense of rhetoric, both on the small scale (definitions and examples of specific terms) and on the large scale (the purposes of rhetoric, the patterns into which it has fallen historically as it has been taught and practiced for 2000+ years).
Academic Skills Center at Dartmouth
- This is an excellent collection of resources for ALL students who want to survive and thrive in school and the workplace. It includes detailed advice on listening and note taking skills.
Critical Thinking
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These ideas are gathered from an excellent book by Browne and Keeley called, Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking. ISBN: 0-13-089134-7 This would be a worthwhile investment.
Academic Discourse
The Write Way: Empire State College
- This site offers advice on how to join the on-going academic discussion in college. Browsing this site can increase your ethos tremendously.
For Research
Writing About Literature
Writing About Literature: U of NC at Chapel Hill
Academic Writing: Reviews of Literature
Writing Conclusions: From Harvard
Academic Discourse
The Write Way: Empire State College
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This site offers advice on how to join the on-going academic discussion in college. Browsing this site can increase your ethos tremendously.
American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
- The Library of Congress online has developed this link to help people research American history. This is a government link, so be sure to read the data with a critical mindset. The great thing about this site, however, is that the Library of Congress is an extremely credible and reliable source of accurate information.
Smithsonian Institution: American Social and Cultural History
- The title of this site speaks for itself. The Smithsonian has assembled an awesome collection of links that help us understand life in America: from art to science to television and more.
FirstSearch Page: From CLC's Library
- As residents of Lake County, Warren students have grazing rights at the John C. Murphy Memorial Library at the College of Lake County in Grayslake. Some data bases--like the one linked above-- cannot be accessed without stepping foot in the CLC library; therefore, it may be a good idea to visit and obtain a library card.
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We have databases that cover the following subject areas: health, history, controversial issues, business, literature, science. We also have a general reference and research area as well as a magazine & newspaper database.
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Home Access: Most of these databases can be clicked on from this page, and you'll be taken to a page which will request a username and password. Passwords are not posted on this site. Please get the list of passwords from the library.
Philosophy Links
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Essays in Philosophy: A Biannual JournalChapter 5 of "Experiencing the Humanities" by Richard Jewell
Philosophy 101: Introduction to Philosophy
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Literary Theories
Literary Theories
From Purdue's OWL (online writing lab) An Introductory Literary Theory
Philosophy (relates to lit theory) A Must Read!
Feminist Literary Theory and CriticismKristi Siegel: Introduction to Modern Literary Theory
An Introductory Guide to Literary Theory
Here are some others
For Writing
These handouts are formatted as Microsoft Word documents and PDF files
etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PoeMurd.html Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849. The Murders in the Rue Morgue Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library.
- How to Write a Comparative Analysis Word Document
How to
Write a Comparative Analysis pdf. file
- The Rhetorical Triangle Word Document
- The Rhetorical Triangle pdf. file
- Rhetorical Analysis Questions Word Document
- Prewriting Memo Online Word Document
- The Sentence Word Document
- Possible Research Topics Word Document
- Reading Response Worksheet Word Document
- Thesis Worksheet Word Document
- Rogerian Argumentation Word Document
- Ending the Essay Word Document
- Humanism and Literary Theory Word Document
- Writing a
Critical Analysis
- Prewriting
Memo
- Peer
Revision Worksheet
- Writer's
Workshop Memo
- Revising
to Write More
These are Power Point Presentations
- Ideas on the Writing Process
- Listening and Note-Taking Tips
- Writing Research: Structure & Verbiage as a PowerPoint Presentation
- Critical Thinking PowerPoint
For Introductions and Conclusions
For Introductions and Conclusions--from Dartmouth
Writing and Thinking about Conclusions--from Harvard
- Writing academic papers in college is different from most high school writing. The above link helps define those differences, especially with regard to writing introductions and conclusions.
For Invention
Invention PowerPoint: Common Topics (Topoi)
- Here's the actual PowerPoint version of the presentation
For Style
Stylistic Devices:
- Patterns 1-8
- Patterns 9-13
- A
Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples
- This link is from the University of Kentucky and is an excellent quick-reference source for stylistic devices.
For Fallacies
- An excellent list of fallacies that are easy to read and understand.
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This is a fantastically inclusive list of fallacies from Don Lindsay, a scientist and an engineer.
- [based on A Database of Informal Fallacies, copyright 1987 by Dr. Charles Ess.]
For Writing in General
Some on-line guides and writing centers:
Purdue University's OWL (Online Writing Lab)
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This link pretty much has it all: links for ideas, writing, revising, editing, and MLA tips-a MUST see site!
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Here's another fantastic site from the University of North Carolina Chaple Hill that's practically an on-line course in itself. Check out the "Handouts & Links" link
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Click around this site from the Writing Center at Indiana University, Bloomington, to find tips on writing thesis statements, using MLA, and tons of other stuff!
Resources for Students from Dartmouth
- This is a robust online resources page that offers advice for writing in different academic communities: Art History, English, Film, Music, Religion, and Philosophy.
For
MLA in-text citations
(parenthetical documentation)
LEO--Literacy Education Online
The Writing Center--University of Wisconsin Madison
Duke Library--This one is excellent
For Feminism: Remember, looking at feminism is a positive and constructive way of looking at issues in society! Students who avoid feminism, understand less than half the world!
National Organization for Women: NOW
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This is the best place to get credible and accurate up to date information on issues and legislation regarding women's rights (and human rights in general). Don't miss this one!
Women in the United States: U.S. Department of State's Office of International Information Programs
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Here's the US State Department's site on Women's Rights starting with Seneca Falls
(The Suffrage Movement beginnings)
Women's Human Rights Resources: Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto
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Here's another excellent and interesting site for current women's issues