Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0146 - Literary Ramblings

This course challenges commonplace assumptions about writing as a sedentary activity. Instead we traverse the literary history of writing while standing up, walking, and in conversation. Amid the contemporary fascination with standing desks and rising anxiety about the health implications of our deskbound lives, we ask a range of questions: What forms of writing put authors into motion or made them sit down? At what point in history did it become normal to compose in a chair? How does the physiology of writing affect what writers have to say and how they say it? Lastly, what do changing writing habits tell us about the modern conception of literary creativity, intellectual labor, and the post-industrial workplace? Readings include texts by Rousseau, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Thoreau, Poe, Whitman, Baudelaire, Kerouac, and Sorkin. In addition, students will experiment with ambulatory composition over the course of several Fall time sojourns in the Pioneer Valley.

Culture, Humanities, and Languages Writing and Research In this course students are expected to spend 8 hours weekly on preparation and work outside of class time. Field Trip $10-20 (estimate).