Constantly in the shadow of megalomaniac Manhattan, Brooklyn has since the turn of the millenium become something like the self-deprecatingly ironic heart of American literature. It is a symbol for the decline of urban America as well as for its renaissance in what some might see as the ultimate hipster triumph and others as the dystopian nightmare of gentrification. And all of these phases and conflicting viewpoints have led to the creation of great literature.
In this class, we want to explore the literary heritage as well as present of Brooklyn and understand how it can be read as a multi-faceted chiffre for America all the way from the 19th to the 21st century. We will read texts ranging from Walt Whitman's rhapsodies about the Brooklyn Ferry and Hart Cranes high modernist celebration of the Brooklyn Bridge, through the immigrant stories of Betty Smith and Bernard Malamud, all the way to the emergence of hip hop (Jay-Z, Lil' Kim and the Notorious B.I.G. all hail from Brooklyn), black film making (Spike Lee) and postmodern takes on the hipster by Jonathan Lethem and others.
- Dozent/in: Sebastian Domsch