English 329 - Multicultural London

This course explores how London has emerged as a rich site of literature and popular culture, a multicultural contact zone drawing writers and filmmakers to the metropolitan center of the former imperial Empire. It focuses on Britain's more recent experience of migration, displacement, and transplantation. The course examines how contemporary writers investigate the meaning of 'Englishness,' along with their own vexed relation to British history and identity. Authors include Sam Selvon, V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, Andrea Levy, Zadie Smith, Caryl Phillips, and Neel Mukherjee. Films include My Beautiful Laundrette, My Son the Fanatic, and Anita and Me.