Journalism, Media, and Literature

Photojournalism and Paris—-Lady Journalists and Vampires—-Crime Reporting and Detective Fiction: this course will explore the aesthetics of journalism in literary works. We will seek to answer questions such as: How did crime reporting inspire the detective novel? How does photojournalism affect stories about the city? How do concepts such as the spectator or virtual reality appear in literature? How did women’s roles as reporters, consumers, or sensational subjects affect literature?

We will read detective and sensation stories about strange crimes in the city, as well as Emile Zola’s The Ladies Paradise – a novel set in a Parisian department store. We will consider the role of “lady journalists” and sensational women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a novel constructed from letters and newspaper cuttings. The silent cinema brings us to Adolfo Bioy Casares’ The Invention of Morel, an intriguing Argentinian novel obsessed with new technology. We will bring the course up to date with stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer whose fame has been mediated through magazines and media outlets, and finish by considering the influence of virtual reality and video games in the movie Inception. Written work will include close-reading tasks, a journalism-driven assignment, and a formal essay.