Course at Florida International University

New York in the 50s: Beats of a New Culture

ENG 5058 sec. B51
AML 5505 Sec. B53

Fall Term, 2004
   Office Hours: Wednesdays, 3-5 pm
   Class: Wednesdays, 5-7:40 pm

While the rest of the country was snoozing through The Age of Ike, New York in the 'Fifties was in ferment with the ideas and people that led to the way we live now. It was in that time and place that the seeds of change were planted that came to fruition in the creativity and tumult of the 'Sixties and altered the course of our culture, in literature, journalism, politics, sociology, theater, music, and art.

We will study the innovations of and connections between all these subjects, reading Kerouac, Ginsberg, and The Beats, as well as other influential writers of the time, from James Baldwin to Gay Talese; listen to the jazz of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and others; and see documentary and dramatic movies that define the era.

The course will be taught by FIU Writer in Residence Dan Wakefield, author of the memoir "New York in the Fifties," and a narrator of the documentary film of the same name.

Reading list:

• New York in the '50s, by Dan Wakefield
• Howl, by Allen Ginsberg
• Desolation Angels, by Jack Kerouac
• Miles, by Miles Davis
• The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

Assignments:

• Class attendance and contribution to discussion are expected.
• There will be a mid-term and a final test. Tests will be based on books on reading list, plus weekly handouts, as well as class discussion.
• There will be one paper of 3,000 words (or 10 double-spaced pages) for each undergrad student.
• There will be a special project of a paper and class presentation from each graduate student.
• More than three absences will be an automatic F.