When New York was struck in the heart on the morning of 11 September 2001, it was not only the Twin Towers that collapsed, but the entire narrative power of the city: its wound thus exposed dethroned it from the role of capital of the western twentieth century. That story was over, and it had ended with shocking violence. Other stories had to begin, and so it was. 19 years passed and New York rebuilt itself: through the streets, money, love, people, art. Until another test hit her, a test that we all had to overcome, but which hit New York in darker colors if possible: the pandemic, it was said, was definitely killing it.
But it wasn’t true.
Through a selection of stories from different sources (books, primarily, but also TV series, musicals, documentaries, photographs, etc.) and – for the first time in the history of Maps of America – through a series of first-hand accounts produced on field (interviews, videos, reports, articles), we will go together to discover New York in these last, decisive, twenty years.
The program had a more journalistic and current slant than other courses in the Maps of America project, therefore many works and many protagonists will only appear during the time of the lessons.
In general, however, the program’s keywords will be:
#selection > New York City belongs to everyone and everyone there retains its own history: infinite paths could be built, the teacher will propose one through a very chiseled and personalized selection of key works (both literary and cultural in general).
#inclusiveness > not only Manhattan and Brooklyn, not only white and male narratives, not only novels: this will be a course dedicated to multiplicity and diversity.
#themes > each of the five lessons will be structured around a very simple theme capable of catalyzing the right stories.
The themes are: Deaths, Streets, New Yorkers, Girls, Bodegas.
You can discover all the topics and the detailed program in this video.
Each stop come with a baggage: a dedicated moodboard, available on the Babelica website. As America always teaches us, in fact, a single point of view is not enough to understand it. So in the moodboard you will find reference articles, films, videos, images, reports, playlists etc…
Five lessons about two hours each
The course is available on demand, so the answer is… When you want! Even right now 😉
The contribution for this road trip is 240 AUD.
Deaths: “Falling man”, novel, Don DeLillo, 2015
Streets: “Drinking at the Movies”, graphic novel, Julia Wertz, 2010
New Yorkers: “10:04”, novel, Ben Lerner, 2010
Girls: “Pretend It’s a City”, documentary, Martin Scorsese, 2021
Bodegas: “In the Heights”, musical, Jon Chu, 2021
Journalist and literary guide, Marta Ciccolari Micaldi specializes in North American literature. In 2013, returning from a long stay in the United States, he inaugurated a blog to explore American customs and culture (La McMusa), with a particular focus on the contemporary novel and the ever-living concepts of the American dream and on the road. The same ones who, shortly after, gave birth to his American literature course and the Book Riders literary tours in America, both aimed at combining geography and literature. He also writes a monthly newsletter which, consistently, is called #SognaAmericano.
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Babelica Down Under project
Babelica APS | Turin | Italy
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