American Vertigo: How the World Sees the U.S.

Why does America exercise such an extraordinary attraction for foreign writers? And why, moreover, is the America that appears in those writings so often unrecognizable? This class examines the representation of American life from DeTocqueville to Henry-Levy, looking at work by Amis, Antonioni, Adorno, Nabokov, Kincaid, and others. Two lectures and one discussion meeting weekly. Students will be assigned to conference sections by the instructor during the first week of class.