Nonstop Metropolis: Literature and Culture in NYC

Catalog description

This course explores literary and visual evocations of the city from an interdisciplinary and theoretical perspective. In many ways, a city is as much a mental construct as a physical one, referred to as image, idea, myth, metaphor, vision, catalyst, and more. The course considers how such terms apply to representations of a metropolis, as well as how the city can be viewed as artifact or fiction. Drawing upon theories from geography, architecture, sociology, and urban studies, we examine the traditional dichotomy between city and country, the relationship between gender and sexuality and urban representation, and the ways that community is defined and envisioned in contemporary urban contexts.