Americans Abroad: The Literature and Politics of Travel, 1675-1975
AMST 312
Spring 2011 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
ENGL 314 |
| Course Cluster: Christianity Studies |
In an age of global production, migration, and war, tourism remains one of the largest components of the global economy. This course looks at the cultural history of American travel from the 1670s to the 1970s, focusing on the rise of high-culture tourism from the 1820s through the 1870s, a period in which journalists, artists, and literary professionals aided the nascent "leisure industry" in the construction of ways of seeing and being that have informed numerous aspects of American culture, from consumerism to the construction of individual and national identity. Through a close study of literary and visual art, we will raise what Elizabeth Bishop calls, in one of our primary texts, "questions of travel": What kinds of knowledge has tourism produced? How has "difference" traveled? Can travel be anti-imperial or counterhegemonic? What is the relation between travel and other forms of global intercourse such as commerce and war? In addition to our primary texts, we will read influential critical works such as Dean McCannel's TOURISM: A NEW THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS, Mary Louise Pratt's IMPERIAL EYES, and Steve Clark's collection, TRAVEL WRITING AND EMPIRE. Field trips to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and the Yale Art Gallery also may be required. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Speaking, Writing
To be determined
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA AMST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: [ENGL203 or AMST155] |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
COLONIAL AMERICAN TRAVEL NARRATIVES, Rowlandson, Byrd, Kemble (Penguin)
19TH-CENTURY TRAVEL WRITING, Stowe, Brown, Copway, Barnum, et al (ereserve)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, THE MARBLE FAUN (Penguin)
Mark Twain, THE INNOCENTS ABROAD; or THE NEW PILGRIMS PROGRESS (Signet)
Henry James, THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY (Norton)
Paul Bowles, THE STORIES OF PAUL BOWLES (Harper)
Janes Bowles, MY SISTER'S HAND IN MIND: COLLECTED WORKS (F, S, G)
James Baldwin, GIOVANNI'S ROOM (Dell)
Elizabeth Bishop, COLLECTED POEMS (F, S, G)
Tim O'Brien, GOING AFTER CACCIATO (Broadway)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Students will be asked to lead one class discussion. Writing assignments will include three short papers (5-7 pp.) on 1) a primary text from the 19th-century; 2) a critical essay; 3) a visual artifact and a final research paper (12-15 pp.) that considers works from two or more media across a span of at least fifty years. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Written work and class exercizes will emphasize critical interpretation of texts in many media. |
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