Making Modernism: Literature and Culture in Twentieth-Century Chicago, 1893-1955 Syllabus All morning sessions will meet from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM in Towner Fellows Lounge on the second floor of the Newberry, unless noted otherwise. WEEK 1 Monday, June 12 Morning session: Liesl Olson, Introductions and Overview. Chicago and the Modernist Metropole. 1. Georg Simmel, The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903). 2. H.L. Mencken, The Literary Capital of the United States (1920). 3. Richard Wright, Chapter 15 from Black Boy/American Hunger (1946). 2:30 to 4 PM: Martha Briggs, Introduction to Modern Manuscript Collections. In Special Collections Reading Room, 4 th floor. 4-5 PM Welcome Reception in Towner Fellows Lounge, Newberry Library. Tuesday, June 13 Morning Session: 9:30-10:30: Tour of the Library and Stacks, Kristin Emery, Will Hansen, and Jo Ellen Dickie 10:30-12:30: Diane Dillon, The World s Columbian Exposition, including display of materials from the Newberry collection Meet in Towner Fellows Lounge for session, collections display will follow in 2-West. 1. Neil Harris, Memory and the White City (1993). Wednesday, June 14 Morning Session: Jennifer Fleissner, Naturalism, Realism, Modernism. 1. Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900). 2. Jennifer Fleissner, The New Woman and the Old Man from Women, Compulsion, Modernity: The Moment of American Naturalism (2004). 3. Jennifer Fleissner, Women and Modernity (2008). Research and Conferences 5-6:30 PM: Walking tour of Towertown led by Diane Dillon. Meet on the front steps of the Newberry. 1
Thursday, June 15 Morning Session: Jennifer Fleissner, Dreiser to Brooks. 1. Gwendolyn Brooks, Maud Martha (1953) 2. Hortense Spillers, An Order of Constancy : Notes on Brooks and the Feminine (1985). 3. Anne-Lise Francois, Toward a Theory of Recessive Action, from Open Secrets: The Literature of Uncounted Experience (2007). Research and Conferences. Friday, June 16 Morning Session: Diane Dillon, Chicago s Visual Culture, including display of materials from the Newberry collection. Meet in Towner Fellows Lounge for session, collections display will follow in 2-West. 1. Susan S. Weininger, Modernism and Chicago Art: 1910-1940 (1990). 2. The Architectural Forum (July, 1933), Special Issue, Century of Progress. Research and Conferences. Optional outing, Saturday, June 17, 11 AM: Architectural Boat Tour. WEEK 2 Monday, June 19 Morning Session: Liesl Olson, Poetry magazine and the Little Review. 1. Liesl Olson, Introduction, Porkpackers and Poetry, in Chicago Renaissance: Literature and Visual Art in the Midwest Metropolis (2017). 2. Peruse the first two issues of Poetry (October and November, 1912); the first issue of the Little Review (March, 1914), and read Carl Sandburg s Chicago Poems in Poetry (March, 1914). All of these readings are available through the Modernist Journals Project: http://modjourn.org 3:00-4:00: Visit to the Poetry Foundation. Meet at the Poetry Foundation, 61 W. Superior St. at 3:00 PM. Tuesday, June 20 Morning Session: Liesl Olson, Chicago and the Midwest. 1. William Cronon, Prologue: Cloud over Chicago, Chapter 1: Dreaming the Metropolis, in Nature s Metropolis (1991). 2. Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio (1919). 2
3. T. J. Jackson Lears, Looking for the White Spot (1993). Research and individual conferences. Wednesday, June 21 NOTE: THIS SESSION WILL MEET AT THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO IN THE RYAN EDUCATION CENTER, CLASSROOM 4 AT 9:30 AM. Morning Session: Sarah Kelly Oehler, Chicago Collections and Patrons. 1. Ezra Pound, To Whistler, American in Poetry (Oct., 1912). Thursday, June 22 NOTE: THIS SESSION WILL MEET AT THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO IN THE RYAN EDUCATION CENTER, CLASSROOM 4 AT 9:30 AM. Morning Session: Sarah Kelly Oehler, Immigration, Migration. 1. Chapters 1 and 2 from They Seek a City: Chicago and the Art of Migration, 1910-1950 (2013). 2:00 PM: Optional outing to the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum Meet at Hull-House Museum, 800 S. Halsted Street. Friday, June 23: Morning Session: Liesl Olson, Ernest Hemingway s Midwestern Values. 1. Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (1926). 2. Ernest Hemingway, The Battler, Chapter VI, A Very Short Story, in In Our Time (1925) 2-3 PM: In 2-West, Chicago journalism, Briggs and Olson. WEEK 3 Monday, June 26 Morning Session, 9:30-11:30: Liesl Olson, Modernism and Vernacular. 1. Gertrude Stein, Melanctha (1909). 2. Michael North, Modernism s African Mask: The Stein-Picasso Collaboration, in The Dialect of Modernism (1994). 3. Liesl Olson, Gertrude Stein Comes to Chicago in Chicago Renaissance (2017). 3
Noon-2 PM: Janine Mileaf, Tour and Discussion of the Arts Club of Chicago, lunch included. Travel together from Newberry to 201 E. Ontario St. Tuesday, June 27 Morning Session: Liesl Olson, The Chicago Black Renaissance. 1. Richard Wright, Blueprint for Negro Writing (1937). 2. Margaret Walker, For My People (1937). 3. Frank Marshall Davis, 47 th Street (1948). 4. Robert Bone and Richard Courage, chaps. 8-10, The Muse in Bronzeville (2011). [Chapter 7 optional.] Research Wednesday, June 28 Morning Session: Ken Warren, Richard Wright s Bronzeville. 1. Richard Wright, Native Son (1940). 2. Richard Wright, How Bigger Was Born (1940). Thursday, June 29: Morning Session: Ken Warren, Gwendolyn Brooks s Bronzeville. 1. Gwendolyn Brooks, selected poems from A Street in Bronzeville (1945): kitchenette building, Song in the Front Yard, Of DeWitt Williams on His Way to Lincoln Cemetery, The Sundays of Satin Legs Smith, Gay Chaps at the Bar 2. Gwendolyn Brooks, selected poems from Annie Allen (1950): Chicken She Chided Early Should not Wait, Late Annie in Her Bower Lay, Think Of Sweet and Chocolate Friday, June 30: Morning Session: Ken Warren, Bronzeville s Documentary Impulse. 1. Richard Wright, 12 Million Black Voices (1941). 2. Wayne Miller, Chicago s South Side, 1946-1948 (2000), including Introduction by Gordon Parks. Texts available on institute s reserve shelf. 4
WEEK 4 Monday, July 3 Morning Session: Liesl Olson, First Round of Syllabi Exchange, and Group Discussion of Individual Projects. Syllabi and Project Descriptions from Summer Scholars. Research Tuesday, July 4 HOLIDAY Wednesday, July 5: NOTE: THIS SESSION WILL MEET AT THE HAROLD WASHINGTON LIBRARY, 400 S. STATE STREET, ROOM 7N5 AT 9:30 AM. Morning Session: Davarian Baldwin, The Making of Black Metropolis, including display of materials from the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection. 1. Black Ghetto (chapter 8) and Bronzeville (chapter 14) in Cayton and Drake, Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City (1945). 2 to 5 PM: Bus Tour of Bronzeville led by Davarian Baldwin. Meet at the west side of the Harold Washington Library, 401 S. Plymouth Ct. Thursday July 6 Morning Session: Davarian Baldwin, Music and Chicago s Black Renaissance. 1. Baldwin, Sacred Tastes: The Migrant Aesthetics and Authority of Gospel Music, Chicago s New Negros: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (2007). 6:00 PM: Farewell dinner at the home of Liesl Olson. Friday, July 7 Morning Session: Saturday, July 8 Liesl Olson, Second Round of Syllabi Exchange, and Group Discussion of Individual Projects. Evaluations. Departures. 5