Comp Lit 4901 - TOPICS: Around Paris: Capital Lives

Institution:

Washington University in St Louis

Subject:

Description:

This course constructs a cultural map of literature and the visual arts through century-by-century comparisons linking Paris with different Western capitals. We study Rabelais' ideals of a humanist education along with the flourishing of art in Renaissance Florence; the court culture of Lafayette's Princess de Cleve and the art of Vermeer and his contemporaries in Delft and Amsterdam; the libertinism of Laclos' Dangerous Liaisons in conjunction with the London exploits of Richardson's Pamela; and the middle-class desire as it radiates from Paris through Vienna in Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Vuillard's paintings, and Freud's Dora. These comparisons enable us to define a context for literature that engages political, religious, and social concerns. A study of Butor's Parisian hero's return to Rome in Change of Heart (La Modification) along with Paul Auster's New York Trilogy focuses on how, by experimenting with narrative structure, some modern literature defines a culture rooted less in sociopolitical concerns than in the writer's own ability to relate the impact of city life on the consciousness of his hero. Photographs of Paris and New York by Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, Stieglitz, Strand, Hine, and others offer additional perspectives for considering how, over time and over borders, Paris remains central to our sense of culture. Prerequisite: one 300-level literature class.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wustl.edu

Phone Number:

(314) 935-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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