ENGL 61.11 Reel Imaginary: Early American Literature in Film

Walter Benjamin argues that we can only awaken from “that dream we name the past” by passing through it, looking simultaneously at both past and future. We can attempt this by reading historical literature, but in the last few decades, film has become a major mediator of our experiences of the past. This course encourages us to think critically about how films represent our past to us in forms that shape our experience of our present identity and influence the future. To think dialectically, we will read primary source material from 1000 AD to 1757 and see what some of the major American filmmakers do with it and why.

Instructor

Not being offered in 2022-23

Prerequisite

Recommended: two completed English courses.

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:LIT; WCult:W

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Department-Specific Course Categories

Junior Colloquium: Course Group I