Writing the City

Dr Angel Igov
Lectures: 30
ECTS credits: 3

The course aims to introduce students to diverse social, cultural and anthropological practices, which construct the image of the city in literature, as well as how the literary text re-creates urban space. Lectures and discussions focus on emblematic “literary” cities such as New York, London, and L. A. as represented in contemporary British and American writing by Paul Auster, E. L. Doctorow, Ian McEwan, Angela Carter, Raymond Carver and others. The approach is student-oriented and involves autonomous reading and discussion of critical and theoretical texts. Film adaptations of short stories and novels will help students visualize the connection between textual space and symbolic urban spaces/ places. Students will be expected to write a term paper or a project on a topic related to the overall theme of the course. Evaluation involves a mid-term test and a term-paper. There are no specific prerequisites for the course apart from a good command of English as the course is conducted in English.