WR 348 - Writing about Music and Culture

(3.00 cr.)

Prerequisite: WR 100 , one WR 200-level course. Students explore key genres in writing about popular music of the past century up to the present day. Readings include Greil Marcus on the American ballad tradition; Dorothy Marcic on gender issues in popular hits; Jim Cullen on Bruce Springsteen's relation to Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, and Woody Guthrie; and selections from annual volumes in the Best Music Writing series. Principal assignments include an extended essay/review, a cultural studies paper, and a memoir/essay connected to issues of music and culture; students choose the artist(s) or genre(s) that they focus on in their papers.