3.00 Credits
As one of the most dominant themes of modernity, the city figures as a poster child of trendsetters, go-getters, floozies, and philanderers. It is the embodiment of shabby chic. Wherever there's couture there are cutthroats, and if there's a ballroom there's bound to be a bordello. Baudelaire's Paris sets the tone for the modern city's fast-paced but staggering tempo, and 150 years later, it can still be heard in Bono's gravelly tones and nostalgic lyrics. This course focuses on four cities intimately connected through literature, art, music, and film. It will study both their tense political and social relationships with one another as well as their idiosyncratic cultures and geographies (including their landmarks, streets, transportation and water systems, etc.), and will think about the resonance of these cities' histories on global, contemporary culture. Readings include selections from Baudelaire and Apollinaire, works by Padraic O Conaire, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Liam O' Flaherty, Samuel Beckett, Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bowen, John Banville, and Michael McLaverty, and selected poems from Seamus Heaney, John Montague, Derek Mahon, and Ciaran Carson. Photos, paintings, and song lyrics will supplement the readings, and there will also be a few movie showings. Course requirements include class participation, weekly quizzes, one 10-12 page paper, and a midterm.