Ways into Advanced Literature: disruptors, transgressors and storytellers

What is the course about?

This in-person literature course encourages you to develop your close reading and analytical skills through the study of three iconic texts that dissect American culture through the lens of Hollywood in the 1930s, 60s and 70s.

'Hollywood is ugly, dangerous - and completely magical.' - David Thomson

The Day of the Locust (1939) has been compared to T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland, saying it is 'equally hallucinatory and probably more pessimistic, as well as more comic.' ( Earl Rovit, Reference Guide to American Literature) Nathanael West wrote about the tension between disillusionment and romance and how the characters, including a painter, a bookkeeper, a cowboy, an untalented actress and a dwarf, recognise the absurdity of everyday life.

Play it as it Lays (1970) is Joan Didion's fictional counterpart to her essays of the 60s, notably Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album. The settings are places beyond good and evil - Hollywood, Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert, where Maria's existential existence is rootless - she just wants her daughter back.

Slow Days, Fast Company (1974/1977) evokes a Southern California of movie stars, socialites, suburbanites, grape pickers of the Central Valley, artists and writers of the 60s and 70s, an era of excess, of living in the moment. Eve Babitz '...achieved that American ideal: art that stays loose, maintains its cool, is purely enjoyable enough to be mistaken for simple entertainment. It's a tradition that includes Duke Ellington, Fred Astaire, Preston Sturges, Ed Ruscha, and, it goes without saying, Marilyn Monroe.' (Lili Anolik, Vanity Fair)

What will we cover?

Weeks 1 & 2 - The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

Weeks 2 & 3: Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion

Weeks 5 & 6: Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

-Recognise the social, historical and cultural framework for each text
-Develop close reading skills to explore literary techniques in the works
-Develop understanding of narrative structure and character development

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This is a course for people who have previously done some literary or relevant study in humanities and are interested in further developing their literary skills of analysis. You will be interested in exploring and discussing the texts, with a willingness to join into discussion and consider the views of others.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

There will be short introductory lectures, small group and whole group discussion. Readings will be set for each week in preparation for that week's class, with contextual information and questions to guide your reading.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

Please buy or borrow copies of:

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West - Penguin: 2000 or Vintage Classics: 2012 (the tutor will be using the Penguin edition)

Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion - Fourth Estate: 2011

Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh and L.A. by Eve Babitz - New York Review of Books: 2016

The tutor will provide secondary materials.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

The same tutor will be teaching HLT412 Summer Reading Group: essays and memoirs of Women (3 sessions) and HLT387 Women with a View: writers of the mid-century (4 weeks)

Look for other Fiction courses in our Literature programme at https://www.citylit.ac.uk under History, Culture and Humanities.