Literary Representns: The City

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

By 2009, according to a United Nations report, more people around the world lived in cities than in rural areas. Nearly 80% of Americans live in cities. The city is where we live, but it is also the subject of creative, theoretical, and political engagement. In this course, we will consider how representations of the city reflect but also help to shape these engagements. What stories do people tell, what images do they create, about the experience and meaning of cities? And why do those representations matter? While we will draw on some sources and theories with European roots, most of our texts come from the US. We’ll read fiction and poetry from the 19th century to the 21st century; view documentary films and parts of contemporary television series, including The Wire; and look at visual and digital representations, as well. Along with informal writing in response to course readings, students will create multimedia projects about specific cities of their choice, combining their own writing with existing written, visual, and digital sources.