Imagining the City

About the Course

The rise of the modern city makes possible new modes of experience, new kinds of people, and new kinds of stories. To appreciate these novelties, we will start by looking at sociologist Georg Simmel’s “The Metropolis and Mental Life.” Then we will explore how writers and filmmakers have tried to capture this experience of city life in different genres (the detective story, romantic comedy, modernist poetry, realism), and from different social perspectives. Texts and films may include Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; The Big Sleep; Do the Right Thing; Manhattan; “The Waste Land”; “Sonny Blues”; Blade Runner; and Lost in Translation.

This class will satisfy one of the following curriculum requirements:

• Humanities Core
• Literary Studies Elective

About the Professor

Lawrence Rothfield

Associate Professor of the Department of English, Comparative Literature, the University of Chicago

Larry Rothfield is an associate professor in the Department of English, Department of Comparative Literature, and is a research affiliate in the Cultural Policy Center. His research focuses on the way in which literature, criticism, and other cultural activities are caught up within epistemic and political struggles.

Larry Rothfield is an associate professor in the Department of English, Department of Comparative Literature, and is a research affiliate in the Cultural Policy Center. His research focuses on the way in which literature, criticism, and other cultural activities are caught up within epistemic and political struggles.