Multiethnic Literatures of Chicago

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Lifelong Chicagoan Gwendolyn Brooks once said of her Bronzeville home, "If you wanted a poem, you had only to look out of a window." This "life in the raw" that inspired the Pulitzer-winning poet also spoke to generations of writers and poets. What can the writing of Chicago, a place proud of its diversity but dogged by inequities, tell us about race and citizenship? And what does it mean to talk about the literature(s) of a city? We'll tackle these big questions as we learn about the 1893 World Fair; the Chicago Renaissance; the Black Arts Movement; the Latino Arts Movement; and Chicago's contemporary literary scene. Through discussion, several short writing assignments, and a longer, research essay, we'll sharpen our analytical and writing skills and seek to become lucid readers of Chicago's literary landscape.