EWL 317 Modernity & the Rise of Urban Literature
This course offers a cross-cultural thematic exploration of select writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with focus on new literary forms and types that emerged alongside and in dialogue with the rise of urban centers from London and Paris to Osaka and Istanbul. The aim is for students to develop an understanding of some of the major works of the era while also examining the links between literature and the complex intellectual, social, and cultural contexts in which it was produced. Students will read literary and theoretical works that engage the ways in which urban geography intersects with sexual and gender identities, class, popular culture and media, tourism, pleasure, and commodity culture, among other topics. All works will be read in English.