Four Mondays: June 5, June 19, June 26, and July 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET Online
Lecture and Discussion. This live class will be recorded and available for later viewing.
Allan Leverone defines the thriller genre thusly: “In a mystery, the crime has already been committed but the hero and the reader must figure out by whom. In a thriller, the crime (at least the biggie) hasn’t been committed yet, but the reader knows who the bad guy is; the question is whether he can be stopped.” It is through this lens of using plot to create suspense that we will examine three classic thrillers.
In John Grisham’s political thriller The Pelican Brief, law student Darby Shaw must uncover the culprits behind the murders of two Supreme Court justices before she herself is killed. In John Le Carré’s spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, retired spy George Smiley must uncover the mole within British Intelligence before his unauthorized investigation is found out by the service. And in Mario Puzo’s crime thriller The Godfather, civilian and returned WWII veteran Michael Corleone must prevent the murder of his crime lord father before he can become his successor as the Don of the Corleone family. Students will deconstruct the plots of these thrillers according to Nigel Watts’s “Eight-Point Story Arc” and analyze how the writers create suspense at both the macro-level of plot as well as the micro-level of sentence structure.
Students will deconstruct the plots of these thrillers according to Nigel Watts’s “Eight-Point Story Arc” and analyze how the writers create suspense at both the macro-level of plot as well as the micro-level of sentence structure.
Four Mondays: June 5, June 19, June 26, and July 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET Online
June 5: Introduction to the topic through excerpts and discussion.
June 19: The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
June 26: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré
July 10: The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Required Books:
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (9780385339704)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré (9780143119784)
The Godfather by Mario Puzo (9780451205766)
A graduate of Brown University (M.A., English) and Kenyon College (B.A., English), Matt Colburn is writer, educator, and YouTuber. He has taught as an adjunct professor of English since 2014. Matt Colburn has received numerous awards for his teaching, including a 2018-2019 Montgomery College Outstanding Part-time Faculty Award and the 2018 University of the District of Columbia Community College Outstanding Adjunct Faculty of the Year Award. Professor Colburn posts educational videos on his YouTube Channel, Colburn Classroom. His story “On the Metro,” which features some elements of the thriller genre, is forthcoming in the Spring 2023 issue of The Potomac Review.
REFUND POLICY: Please note that we can issue class refunds up until seven (7) days before the first class session.
