ENG 1061 - Literary Boston

Credits: 4

This introductory-level literature course explores Boston’s literary history from the seventeenth-century to today. The city of Anne Bradstreet and Ralph Waldo Emerson has produced many prominent writers in its past, but it is also a city whose literary history is still in the making. We will read fiction by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dennis Lehane, and Jhumpa Lahiri and watch episodes of Cheers and The Handmaid’s Tale, paying particular attention to the ways that these stories are
interwoven into Boston’s development. This course will emphasize the diversity of writing and life in the Boston area over nearly four centuries, while zeroing in on how writers and texts engage with the city’s social and political developments. We will also take site visits into the streets, museums, and archives of one of the most historic cities in the United States.
Fulfills: AL in LS Core