...

.


UNIVERSITÄT BASEL
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH


The Romance of the Road

 


2nd Year Course - Summer Term 2003 Tuesdays, 1015-1145 (Deutsches Seminar, room 5)

Ladina Bezzola / Markus Marti

new:
How to write an academic paper

...


course programme

recommended links:

Timeline of American History, Literature, and Culture

History of American Highways

road songs
road movies
the road in literature

Walt Whitman
Bibliography to Walt Whitman

John Steinbeck
Bibliography to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath

Jack Kerouac
Bibliography to Kerouac's On the Road


William Least Heat-Moon
Bibliography to William Least Heat-Moon





Course programme

date

topic; texts discussed

recommended links

week 1

08.04.

Tuesday 10.15-11.45


The Highway to Mount Zion

John Bunyan (1628-88): The Pilgrim's Progress, Part I (1678)


John Bunyan:
The Pilgrim's Progress

Johnston, Ian.
Introduction to The Pilgrim's Progress

Study Page, Plot (Monkey Notes)

week 2

15.04.


Allons!

Walt Whitman: "Song of the Open Road"

Walt Whitman, "Song of the Open Road"

Song of the open road

Bibliography to Walt Whitman

week 3

22. 04.


In Search of the Lost Eden

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath
(Meeting chaired & organized by: Jonny and Alexandra)

John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

Bibliography to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath

week 4

29. 04.


Car Culture

John Steinbeck:The Grapes of Wrath
Roger Casey, Textual Vehicles


John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

Bibliography to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath

History of American Highways

week 5

05.05


Film screening: 6pm-8pm (probably in Wandelbar, Deutsches Seminar)

John Ford, Grapes of Wrath (1940)

more links

Bibliography to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath

week 5

06.05.


road movies (1):
John Ford's Grapes of Wrath

Sobchack, Vivian C. "The Grapes of Wrath (1940): Thematic Emphasis through Visual Style"

(Meeting chaired & organized by: Leif)

John Ford, Grapes of Wrath

John Ford, Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Bibliography to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath

week 6

13.05.

On the road - journey as a state of being

Jack Kerouac: On the road
(Meeting chaired & organized by: Patricia and Michael)


Jack Kerouac, On The Road

Jack Kerouac, On the Road (Penguin guide)
1st chapter (hypertext)
Kerouac.
On the Road

Bibliography to Kerouac's On the Road

week 7

20.05.

On the road

Jack Kerouac: On the road

(Meeting chaired & organized by: Sabine and Cora)


Jack Kerouac, On The Road

Jack Kerouac, On the Road (Penguin guide)
1st chapter (hypertext)
Kerouac.
On the Road

Bibliography to Kerouac's On the Road

week 7
22.05

Film screening: 6pm-8pm (probably in Room 3)
Easy Rider

more links

week 8

27.05.

road movies (2):
Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider (1969)

(Meeting chaired & organized by: Marc and Deniz)


Easy Rider

week 9

03.06.


Route 66:

road songs

(Meeting chaired & organized by: Stefan and Kornelia)


bring your favourites...

Recordings of "Route 66"

week 9

09.06

Film screening: 6pm-8pm (probably in Room 3)
Thelma and Louise

more links

week 10

10.06.


road movies (3):
Thelma and Louise

(Meeting chaired & organized by: Maite, Estela and Marco)

Thelma and Louise

week 11

17.06.

 

William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways

(Meeting chaired & organized by: Madleina and Helen)

 


William Least Heat-Moon.
Blue Highways

William Least Heat-Moon

Heat-Moon

week 12

24.06.

William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways

Ronald Primeau: "Journeys of Self-Discovery"

 


William Least Heat-Moon.
Blue Highways

William Least Heat-Moon

Heat-Moon

week 13

30.06.

Film screening: 6pm-8pm (probably in Room 3)
Lynch, David.
Wild at Heart

more links

week 13

01.07.

postmodern road movies (4)

(Meeting chaired & organized by Saskia and Oliver)

Lynch, David. Wild at Heart

week 14

08.07

roading off

Baudrillard: "Vanishing Point"


top

 

Some links:



Road Songs



"Get Your Kicks On Route 66" by Bobby Troup

If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66.
It winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than 2,000 miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66.
You go through St. Louie, Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty.
You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino.
Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66.



Recordings of "Route 66" [http://www.route40.net/songs/66.shtml]

Bruce Springsteen: The Ghost of Tom Joad

Woody Guthrie:
biography:
Woody Guthrie:
Tom Joad; Talking Dust Bowl Blues; I Ain't got no Home Anymore; DO-RE-MI; Highway 66 Blues; Deportee (Pastures of Plenty); Pretty Boy Floyd

Camel (Andrew Latimer):
Dust and Dreams (1991) texts

Ry Cooder [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/CoodDsBl.htm]

top

Road Movies

Weingroff, Richard F. (Federal Highway Administration, Office of the Associate Administrator for Program Development) Road Movies [http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/summer96/p96su42.htm|]

Women in Road Movies [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/WomanRoads.htm]

North, Sam.
Road Movies [http://www.hackwriters.com/roadone.htm]

Headman, Gary.
Road Movies: Media Resources [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/roadmovies.html]

John Ford,
Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper: Easy Rider [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0064276]
Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America.
Easy Rider (1969) [http://www.filmsite.org/easy.html]

Jarmusch, Jim.
Down by Law (1969) [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0090967]
The story of three different men in a Louisiana prison and their eventual journey
Down by Law (1986) [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/DownbyLaw-1006185/reviews.php]

Sarafian, Richard C.
Vanishing Point [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0067927]
Kowalski, the hero of the story, works for a car delivery service. He takes delivery of a supercharged 1970 Dodge Challenger...
Sarafian, Richard C.
Vanishing Point (1971) reviews [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/VanishingPoint-1022504/reviews.php]

Spielberg, Stephen.
Sugarland Express (1974) [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0072226]
Stephen Spielberg's first theatrical release follows a fugitive couple fleeing to Sugarland, Texas. Lou-Jean (Goldie Hawn) tells her husband, who is imprisoned, to escape. They plan to kidnap their own child...

Scott, Ridley.
Thelma and Louise (1991) [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103074]
An Arkansas waitress and a housewife shoot a rapist and take off in a '66 Thunderbird...
Thelma and Louise (script) [http://www.hundland.com/scripts/ThelmaAndLouise.txt]

Lynch, David
Wild at Heart [http://www.wayney.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/wildatheart.htm]
Lula's psychopathic mother goes crazy at the thought of Lula being with Sailor, who just got free from jail...
script [http://www.krug.org/scripts/wildatheart.html]
Reviews: [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/WildatHeart-1029842/]

The Straight Story [http://www.wayney.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/straight.htm]
The true story of Alvin Straight (Farnsworth) who rides his 1961 lawnmower from Laurens, Iowa, to Mt. Zion, Wisconsin, to visit his estranged brother after the latter suffers a stroke.
Bertarelli, James.
Review: The Straight Story. [http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/s/straight_story.html]
more reviews: [http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/straightstory]

top

The Road in Literature


the Road in Literature [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/Literoad.htm]

Road Narratives [http://twist.lib.uiowa.edu/amerroad/syllabus.html]

top


Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman. Song of the open Road. (1900, Leaves of Grass) [http://www.bartleby.com/142/82.html]
Walt Whitman.
Song of the open road [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/song_of_the_open_road.htm]

Greenspan, Ezra.
From Manhattan to Jerusalem Locating Whitman's Open Road. [http://www.cla.sc.edu/engl/faculty/ezrag/walt3.htm]

Whitlark, James.
Poetry as Hypnosis: An Ericksonian Approach to "Song of the Open Road" Magazine For Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy [http://www.hypnos.co.uk/hypnomag/whitlark.htm]

Bibliography to Walt Whitman

 

top

 


John Steinbeck


John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath [http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Steinbeck/grapes.html]
chapter summary etc.
Teaching Grapes of Wrath [http://diglib.lsu.edu/tahil/grapes/index2.htm]
Transcript [http://www.geocities.com/classicmoviescripts/script/grapesofwrath.txt]
The Grapes of Wrath [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/JOADS1.HTM]
John Ford,
Grapes of Wrath [http://us.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Grapes+of+Wrath,+The+(1940)]

Lavender, Cathrin
Grapes of Wrath study page [http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/grapes.html]

Context:

The Great Depression: Library of Congress Resource pages [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/depwwii/depwar.html]

The Oklahoma
dust bowl

Pictures:

LoC Photographs [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/depwwii/dustbowl/onroad.html]
Songs:
"I'd rather not be on relief" (song) [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/depwwii/dustbowl/onrelief.html]
Bruce Springsteen:
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Woody Guthrie:
biography: Tom Joad; Talking Dust Bowl Blues; I Ain't got no Home Anymore; DO-RE-MI; Highway 66 Blues; Deportee (Pastures of Plenty); Pretty Boy Floyd
Camel (Andrew Latimer):
Dust and Dreams (1991) texts
Ry Cooder [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/CoodDsBl.htm]

John Steinbeck Travels with Charley [http://www.steinbeck.org/Travels.html]


Bibliography to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath

top

 


Jack Kerouac

General sites on the Beat Movement:

The Beat Movement [http://people.tamu.edu./~alethaa/beat.html]
Internet Resources to the Beat Movement [http://people.tamu.edu./~alethaa/beat.html#inte]
The Beat Generation [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/BeatGen.html]
The Beat Generation [http://home1.inet.tele.dk/jenskoch/onroad1.htm]
Columbia:
The Birthplace of the Beat Movement. [http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/Places/Columbia.html]

Music: Bebop [http://www.wnur.org/jazz/styles/bebop.html]

Kerouac:

Kerouac, Jack. [http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=JackKerouac]
Listen to Kerouac reading [http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~gallaher/k_speaks/kerouacspeaks.html]

Kerouac, Jack (1922-64),
On the Road (Penguin guide) [http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/rguides/us/on_the_road.html]
1st chapter (hypertext) [http://home1.inet.tele.dk/jenskoch/onroad1.htm]
Kerouac, Jack.
On the Road [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/picks_on_kerouac.htm]
On the Road
plot summary [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/OnTheRoad.htm]
Who is who: Character Alias Key [http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Workshop/5083/key.html]

Mayer, Kurt Albert "
'Where are we going, man?''I don't know but we gotta go.'" Jack Kerouac's On the Road (excerpt of dissertation) [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/kamkerouac.htm]
Noferi, Marc.
"Jazz and the Beat Generation. The Musical Model in Literature" [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/ams/Jazz/Jazz3/Noferi.htm]

Other Writers:

Burroughs, William S. (1914-1997): Biography, Bibliography, Audio, Filmography etc. Links [http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/william_s_burroughs.html]
Burroughs, William S. [http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=WilliamSBurroughs]

Cassady, Neal. [http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=NealCassady]

Ginsberg, Allen. He discovered the poetry of Walt Whitman (the original Beatnik) in high school, but despite his interest in poetry he followed his father's advice and began planning a career as a labor lawyer. This was what he had in mind when he began his freshman year at Columbia University, but he fell in with a crowd of wild souls there, including fellow students Lucien Carr and Jack Kerouac and non-student friends William S. Burroughs and Neal Cassady. These delinquent young philosophers were equally obsessed with drugs, crime, sex and literature

Ginsberg, Allen.
Howl [http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/writings/poems/agh.htm] or here [http://plagiarist.com/poetry/?wid=3747]


Bibliography to Kerouac's On the Road

top



William Least Heat-Moon

William Least Heat-Moon. Blue Highways [http://angam.ang.univie.ac.at/roadcult/leastheatmoon/LeastHeatMoon.html]

William Least Heat-Moon [http://www.heat-moon.com/index.html]

Heat-Moon [http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/LeastHeatMoon.html]

Black Elk: Biography [http://www.thewildwest.org/native_american/faces/index.html#Elk]

Black Elk Speaks (Neihardt, John G. ed. Black Elk speaks; being the life story of a holy man of the Oglala Sioux. , full text) [http://www.blackelkspeaks.unl.edu/index2.htm]

Bibliography to William Least Heat-Moon

top

 

English Department
University of Basel, Switzerland

main page: Shakespeare in Europe
for suggestions, additions, dead links etc. contact
webmaster

last changes: May 2003