With a special focus on the period of 1898-1936, this course will examine the centrality of urban space and the leisure culture and gendered space of city life as it is conceived in Spanish high and low brow literature, including avant-garde works and kiosk commercial literature, in conjunction with its representation in both Spanish silent-era cinema (e.g. El sexto sentido; El misterio de la Puerta del Sol) and international “city symphony” films (e.g. Manhatta, Les nuits électriques). By reading literature with silent film, this course interrogates the multiform representations of modernity, from the celebration of its splendors, or the castigation of the decadence and degradation of urban life. The readings in this course will be anchored by some theoretical and cultural texts about the production of space and place (e.g. Lefebvre, de Certaeu, Simmel), modernity and modernism (e.g. Berman) and some readings about “city symphony” films. Course will be taught in English and Spanish.
M 1:00-3:50; 315 Gregory Hall
CRN: 45962
Instructor: Anna Torres-Cacoullos