The Walk in Literature

From the poems of William Wordsworth to contemporary novels such as Teju Cole's Open City, literary narratives often feature journeys taken on foot. Among other things, a walk, in literature, can structure plot, serve as metaphor, or anchor a stream-of-consciousness narrative within a physical setting. A walker, like a reader, is a consumer of sights. But she is also a producer of thoughts, words, and creative pathways through the world. In this course we will investigate the relationships between walking, thinking, reading, and writing, considering the ways we move through spaces (natural, urban, public, solitary) and the forces and questions that shape our experiences in those spaces. Our texts will include standard novels and essays, as well as work by walking artists like Richard Long, audio-video artist Janet Cardiff, and street artists, for whom the world is the page and the walker is the reader. You will write traditional academic papers, but we will also walk, and some assignments will encourage you to create walking texts of your own.