21L.430 | Fall 2004 | Graduate

Popular Narrative: Masterminds

Course Description

Our purpose is to consider some of the most elaborate and thoughtful efforts to define and delineate "all-mastering," and to consider some of the delineations of "all-mastering the intellect" in various guises - from magicians to master spies to detectives to scientists (mad and otherwise). The major written work of …
Our purpose is to consider some of the most elaborate and thoughtful efforts to define and delineate “all-mastering,” and to consider some of the delineations of “all-mastering the intellect” in various guises - from magicians to master spies to detectives to scientists (mad and otherwise). The major written work of the term will be an ongoing reading journal, which you will circulate to your classmates using an e-mail mailing list. The use of that list is fundamental - it is my intention to generate a sort of ongoing cyberconversation.
Learning Resource Types
Written Assignments with Examples
Presentation Assignments with Examples
A black and white photo of a woman holding a pistol.
Mary A. Shanley, New York City detective. (Image courtesy of World-Telegram photo, the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection, [LC-USZ62-134710].)