English 189 - Winter, 2012

Seminar in Literary Studies

Topic: Slum Country

Class Information

Instructor: Marx, John
CRN: 32616
Time: TR 4:40-6:00
Location: 248 Voorhies

Description

This seminar will focus on one of the most abiding topics of urban studies and urban fictions: the slum. We will read works from the nineteenth century to the present day in an effort to comprehend both why certain parts of cities have been defined as slums and how the idea of slum life has organized treatment of cities in fiction as well as urban commentary of all sorts. In addition to reading about slums, you’ll also be writing about them. The course will be constructed to help you generate a research paper on that troubling urban terrain, slum country.

The United Nations defines a slum as urban territory “lacking at least one of the basic conditions of decent housing: adequate sanitation, improved water supply, durable housing or adequate living space.” Although commentators see the future of urban life in the slums of contemporary mega-cities, slums are equally important to our urban past. This course will examine the slum’s past, present, and future by dipping into two genres of writing often charged with detailing urban poverty: the novel and the travelogue. We will read foundational Victorian works by the likes of John Ruskin, Friedrich Engels, and Charles Dickens, then turn our attention to turn-of-the-twentieth-century slums in Europe and South America, before coming to rest in the present with a pair of recent novels, a number of scholarly essays and pieces of travel writing, and important on-line resources like the Map Kibera project and SLUMLab.org.

Please note that special conditions pertain to one of our novels, Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist. We’ll be reading the 1838 edition of this book, which is available as free pdf (or kindle, or other e-reader format) via the Internet Archive (link for volume one: http://www.archive.org/details/olivertwistorpa00cruigoog). If you would prefer to read hard copy, feel free to order the edition of your choice from any reputable book dealer.

Additional reading will be available in pdf form on the SmartSite session established for this course or via links to freely accessible internet materials from the Internet Archive and other sources.


Grading

Writing over the course of the quarter will include research proposals, annotated bibliographies, and preliminary drafts on the way to a final research paper.

Texts

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow. 2006, Guène, Faïza.
Waiting for an Angel. 2004, Habila, Helon
Down and Out in Paris and London. 1933, Orwell, George.
The Slum. 1890, Azevedo, Aluísio
Oliver Twist. 1838, Dickens, Charles