ENGL4890: Criticism and Culture (54544)

Pizzino, Christopher

TR 11:00 AM

Park Hall 0139


At some moments in history, one narrative form becomes central to its world. The classical Greek stage, the Early Modern theater, the serial novel of the 19th century, the modernist standalone “book of the world”—each concentrates and shapes its time and place. Today in the US, if we have a “center,” it’s televised serial drama. Case in point: The Wire, a show about the life of the city of Baltimore, now widely recognized as one of the greatest dramas, televised or otherwise, of the new century. The Wire has already drawn comparison to classic narratives, both dramatic and literary, of previous eras, and can be studied for its writing and its narrative structure as well as its characterization and performances.

The Wire will be our window into current forms of institutions that have been central to modern life. The state, the police, the family, the media, the labor union—all have been with us for a while now, yet all are changing in our current moment. The course will thus be a study in long arcs of continuity as well as in recent changes in the way we live, and in the ways we think and feel about the way we live.

Students who take this class will be watching every episode of The Wire—an average of four per week—and reading various essays or book excerpts related to it in order to enrich class discussion. The discussion itself will be wide-ranging, touching topics as diverse as the character of modern institutions, the role of politics in urban life, the long history of race in the US, the relationship between work and family, and the nature of class divisions. The Wire is not easy to watch, but it is very rewarding, and students should expect to leave the course with a strong sense of how and why it matters.

Please note:  Despite its subject matter, which frequently concerns crime, The Wire is fairly restrained in its portrayals of violence, sometimes skipping over the scenes in which it occurs and simply showing us the after-effects. However, students watching the series for the first time should still expect some graphic portrayals of violence, together with a constant stream of workaday profanity, such as one hears in many sectors of the real world, and some frankly portrayed sexual content. Do not take the course if you cannot view such material in good conscience.