Paris and New York: The Art of the City

3 units

The cultural icons Paris and New York exert a powerful hold on our imagination. We will explore how the French and Americans define themselves, and each other, through their premiere cities. The themes of integration and isolation, class and race, innovation and tradition, and commemoration and celebration will ground our discussions of writers Zola (Therese Raquin), Wharton (The Age of Innocence), Proust (Swann's Way), Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Krauss (The History of Love), Truong (The Book of Salt), and Gopnik (Paris to the Moon); painters Vuillard, Caillebotte, and de Kooning; photographers Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, Ronis, Abbott, Hine, and Stieglitz; and filmmakers Godard (Breathless), Allen (Manhattan, Midnight in Paris); Jeunet (Amelie Poulain), and Kassovitz (Hate).Through our study of public spaces (the Brooklyn Bridge, the Twin Towers, the Eiffel Tower, and the streets themselves), we will consider how each city functions as a site of memory even as it fashions the future.