Four Fall Sessions, Four Spring Sessions

Remaining Fall Sessions Wednesday, October 25 and December 6

Board Room, 2-3:30

Because detective fiction emerged as a defined genre in the 19th century, its affinities with scientific realism, close observation, and rational thinking are often stressed. But there is also a close association between detective fiction and what is, or appears to be, supernatural. Many detective novels build their plots around specific religions. We will discuss three novels in the fall and four in the spring of 2024. Religions central to the selected novels include various forms of Christianity, Islam, Navajo, Hopi, Crow, and Cheyenne religions, and Shinto.

If you would like to be on the course mailing list, email Carol at cdaeley@austincollege.edu. She will be sharing course material ahead of class sessions. The first novel to be discussed on October 4 will be Ausma Zehanat Khan’s "A Deadly Divide." The complete reading list will be available at the AE table on Sundays and by email.

Carol Daeley is a Congregation member and a retired professor of literature, though professors of literature never actually retire. She developed several kinds of courses in detective fiction because she wanted, once in a while, to talk in the classroom about literature that students read when nobody made them do it. Presenting this material is even more fun through Adult Education because there are no tests or papers to grade.