Course Description
Summary
Some writers invent houses; some invent cites; others invent worlds. What do these different kinds of space express? In this class, we’ll think about the way fiction writers make use of real and imagined geographies, and how the representation of space constructs a social order: upstairs vs. downstairs, wilderness vs. civilization, oriented vs. disoriented. How, in narrative terms, does the center differ from the margins? How does one represent a privileged space? A queer space? A haunted space? A safe space (safe for whom)? Readings will include works by Mary Rowlandson, Henry James, Guy Davenport, Lewis Carroll, Gaston Bachelard, Rebecca Solnit, Lauret Savoy, Gurney Norman, China Miéville, Carolyn Finney, and Colson Whitehead.
