SELECTIONS FROM YE OLDE BLOG
The City on Stage
Cyrus's discussion of Irving's History over the last week or so lays the foundation for one of the big trajectories we trace in Writing New York: the idea of constructed histories -- the literariness of the city's history -- and the very real effects those histories...
New York Exceptionalism
Had I actually given a lecture today in Writing New York, I would have taken up the theme of New York exceptionalism introduced in my discussion of E. B. White’s Here is New York on Monday. Today’s reading would have been drawn from Russell Shorto’s history of...
Changing Horizons
It was an interesting experience, rereading E. B. White’s Here is New York on 9/11. It reminded me how valuable a tool the concept of the horizon of expectations is for literary critics. Coined by the literary historian and reader-response theorist Hans Robert Jauss,...
Ten Years Later and Many Miles Away
Halfway around the world from New York City, my 9/11/11 began in the most uncanny of ways. You can read about it over at patell.org. And you can read an alternative account of the same event over at mannahattamamma.com. How did you mark the day?
The Walk Down Broadway (and Other Streets)
The “walk down Broadway” is one of the motifs that we introduce on the first day of Writing New York and trace throughout the term. During the opening lecture, we look at at early manifestations such as James Kirke Paulding’s “The Stranger at Home; or...
Introducing vWNY
For many U.S. academics, Labor Day marks the end of summer: for my colleagues at NYU, tomorrow marks the beginning of the fall term. Today, therefore, seems like the right moment to announce Bryan’s and my new “course”: Virtual Writing New York, or vWNY for short. I’m...
Life during wartime: Chronic City book club, day 5
Rounding out the week's posts on Lethem's Chronic City is long-time friend-of-the-blog Sunny Stalter, an assistant professor in the English Department at Auburn University. Her research examines technology in American literature and culture. She's currently writing a...
Mnemonic City: Chronic City book club, day 4
Today we’re pleased to welcome Fiona Anderson, a doctoral candidate in American Studies at King’s College London, as a guest contributor to our summer book club discussion of Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City. Fiona’s dissertation deals with space and...
Interior maps: Chronic City book club, day 3
Today’s discussion of Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City comes from guest blogger Martha Nadell, who teaches at Brooklyn College and is at work on a literary history of Brooklyn. She is also the author of the chapter “Writing Brooklyn” in our Cambridge...
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