After completing this course students are able to:
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identify the ways in which a number of key literary texts have constructed our ideas of urbanity and space
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demonstrate an understanding of the basic questions of representation and imagination of urban space
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apply those concepts in the study of texts and draw conclusions from their observations
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This course focuses on the relation of literature and the city. Since Antiquity, the city has been a symbol of human civilization and has entertained a specific relation with literature – from Plato’s famous book X of the Republic, via St. Augustine’s City of God, 19th century poetic reflections of urbanization, to contemporary literature as an imagination of global urban spaces. We approach the city as a text whose meanings are constructed by readers and writers, and by changing everyday life within city-space.
The course begins by exploring classical, modern and contemporary approaches to the city and literature (Plato, Benjamin, Ross, Lefebvre, Foucault). Then, we examine one prime example – Paris – which has been influential in literature and in our understanding of urban life today. We trace the transformations of city-space from pre-modern to modern, from colonial to postcolonial, from monarchical to revolutionary, from national to transnational, and study how literary texts have intervened in and contributed to these transformations. During an excursion to Paris, we deepen our insight into how literary texts reflect and influence the changes in city-space, and study the city as a playing field for identity formation and poetic inspiration. Readings include Baudelaire, Colette, Hoffmann, Hugo, Perec, Poe.
Format
Each week begins with a lecture-session in which the topic of the week is introduced. During the second meeting of the week, emphasis is put on analyzing the literary works in conjunction with a set of theoretical texts that are of of particular concern for the week’s topic. Students take turns in starting off the group discussions for which all students must have thoroughly read the ‘works of the week’ in advance. Students regularly have to present their reading analyses in oral and written form, as well as participate actively in class discussion.
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