AMST 30183 - Slums, Little Brown Houses, and Brownstone Mansions: Representations of Urban Life

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

American Studies

Description:

This course will begin with a children's tale from the 1880s, Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and examine how urban life has been depicted in American literature and culture. The course will trace the experiences of Mrs. Pepper and her five children as they move from life in a rural New England clapboard house to an urban Brownstone mansion in New York City through to Charles Bukowski's modern San Francisco rooming house madrigals and the down-and-out wanderings of his poet/barfly Henry Chinaski. Along the way we will ask a series of questions such as: Does urbanization thrive on a culture of poverty? Are today's gated communities a continuation of the brownstone mansion? Why do neighbors gentrify? Does the American Dream require vivid urban poverty? How has the global and American economic collapse, credit crisis, and mortgage meltdown changed our perception of slums, little brown houses, and brownstone mansions. Is there such a thing as "enough"?

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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