Writing About Popular Music

Catalog description

In this course we will look at the ways in which writers throughout century have engaged popular music and popular musicians in their work as a means toward understanding a rapidly changing society. Reading assignments will include poetry and fiction by Theodore Dreiser, Langston Hughes, Frank O'Hara, Alice Walker, Don DeLillo, Amiri Baraka, Sherman Alexie, and others; and cultural theory such as Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Raymond Williams, and Jacques Attali. Writing assignments will include critical responses to the reading, creative exercises, and a final critical project. Prerequisites: CRW 5364 , CRW 5321 , and CRW 5365 with a grade of "B" or better. Departmental approval also required. Restricted to major of Creative Writing; Restricted to level of GR.