Reading New York

Catalog description

How have people imagined New York City from the early 20th century to the present? What possibilities does the city provide? What restrictions? To consider these questions we will discuss immigration, mobility, nightlife and the neighborhood, downtown, underground and gentrified spaces, migration and the aftereffects of 9/11. The course ranges across fiction and poetry, memoir and literary journalism, photography and video performance. Texts may include work by Nella Larsen, John Dos Passos, E.B. White, Frank O’Hara, Jane Jacobs, Patti Smith, Nan Goldin, and Teju Cole. A previous literature class is strongly recommended, but not a prerequisite.