ENGLIT

This course addresses the development of the modern detective novel, British and American, from the late 19th century into the 21st.  Detective and crime fiction is one of the most popular forms of narrative, appealing to writers and readers with widely diverse interests and ideologies.  It can offer intense action, intellectual challenge, access to criminal underworlds, political and social critique, and exploration of the psyche.  The focus in this version of the course will be on cities (London and Los Angeles) as sites of criminal imagination, and on detectives as explorers of the city’s hidden connections.  Whether or not they bring about “justice” will be an open question.  Our approach will be broadly historical, from the British amateur sleuths of Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, through the American “hard-boiled” private eye, to the contemporary “police procedural” in television and film as well as fiction. 

The course is designed to introduce students both to canonical literary texts from Johnson to Conan Doyle and to contemporary representations of multi-cultural London.  In the first half of the course we visit the places where famous literary projects were first conceived.  In the second half of the course the class will be visited by an author or director working in contemporary London.
This course takes its students on a historical tour of the capital with great writers and film-makers as our guides.  We start with a boat trip from Westminster to Tower Bridge: a view of the city from the river on which it was built.  Our first stop back on land is Samuel Johnson and the world of eighteenth century literary London.  We look at some of the variety of Johnson’s writing and also visit the house in which he wrote his dictionary and the pub (The Cheshire Cheese) where he entertained his friends.  We then move onto the Romantic poets and read poems about London by Blake, Wordsworth and Keats before visiting the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum.  We then pass into the nineteenth century world of detective fiction and some of the stories of Sherlock Holmes.  The second half of the course focuses on contemporary London and questions of class, race and culture. We read Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia and Zadie Smith’s NW and watch a series of films which show the changing face of London over the last fifty years. 

These courses can be fulfilled through Pitt-Recognized or Exchanges. 

This course will focus on the American writers who lived in Paris during the 1920’s. The readings in this course are designed to help the students become acquainted with a few great American writers who were influenced by Paris and its intellectuals. Europe is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WWI. Therefore, after studying the impact on WWI on France and its artists, we will read and compare essays, letters, and novels written by some of the most famous writers of the Lost Generation. We will also study the writings of other intellectuals who lived in the City of Lights at the same time, such as Sylvia Beach and Janet Flanner. Students will be graded on their ability to discuss the assignments. They will have two exams and a also final project due at the end of the program.

The readings in this course are designed to help you become acquainted with a few world well-known French writers who were influenced by Paris and who influenced the city through the centuries, from the XVIIth century to the XXth Century. You will learn to recognize and appreciate major ideas and themes, such as the Absolutisme of Louis XIV, the Libertinage and the philosophers of the Enlightenment in the XVIIIth century, the Impressionist movement in the XIXth century, and the Surrealism movement in the XXth century.This course will also focus on Parisian history from Napoleon III to WWI, in order for the students to make connections with the other course on American expatriate writers. You will also be introduced to Parisian history and art history, as the instructor will lead you through the street of Paris.The excursions will allow you to have a better understanding of the relationship between literature and visual art, as we explore famous museums such as the Picasso Museum, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Museum of Modern Art.Students will also analyze the importance of fashion and clothes in these different writings.The writing in this course is designated to help you articulate your growing knowledge and understanding of the texts, but also argue persuasively in support of your interpretations.

The value that storytelling has played and continues to play in Irish life cannot be underestimated. Perhaps more than any other English speaking nation, the Irish have an affinity with and aptitude for narrative that places story at the core of their collective consciousness. Ireland has long been a country of stories, from mythical tales of ancient warrior tribes and their epic quests and battles to contemporary narratives of ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances. The rugged physical landscape and meandering city streets have inspired beautiful, beguiling poetry, while the nation's complex and chequered sociopolitical history has evoked an artistic response from writers whose scope is second only to their mastery of craft. That said, many of Ireland's most well known and accomplished writers have produced their best work while in self-imposed exile. This peculiar dichotomy is one of the reasons why a close engagement with Irish literature perpetuates one of the fundamental characteristics of true art: more questions are asked than answered. Onsite lectures along with exhibitions and museum study excursions will make cultural Dublin a fundamental resource for learning.

This course will look at some key theories of popular culture, and include case studies of selected examples from the British Isles since 1945. Popular culture versus subcultures will be examined. The main aim will be to enable students to think independently about this topic. The course will include study visits to galleries, museums and other sites as an important learning experience. This course aims to draw in the students' previous educational and life experiences of culture and history, including oral cultures, popular and ethnic cultures and social and religious movements. It will compare British and American experiences of popular culture, the differences, similarities and cross-influences.

While absorbing and exploring the wonderful city of Edinburgh, students in this course will read a selection of classic and contemporary literature that grapples with issues of Scottish history, national identity and cultural difference, language, customs, and sense of place.

For a portrayal of the variety and depth of human emotions, Shakespeare has never been equaled. In this course, a selection of plays will be studied in depth, with equal focus on the genres of comedy, history and tragedy. Through visits to Shakespearean plays in performance, to the Globe theatre workshop, and through guest speakers, the plays will be examined not only textually but also as living plays that tell us as much about modern identity as the development of the early modern identity. Students will examine the notion of Shakespeare as 'timeless' to understand how vitally he moves from the concerns of his day to ours. This course requires an addition $70 fee to cover the cost of theatre tickets while in London.  You will pay this via credit card upon arrival.