123046 PS Proseminar Literature / Literary Studies (2016W)

"I choose to walk at all risks." (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

"Always, everywhere, people have walked, veining the earth with paths, visible and invisible, symmetrical and meandering" (Thomas Clark). How, where and why do we walk? What is the relationship between walking and thinking? Walking and writing? Walking and living?
If the whys and wherefores of walking are multiple and diverse, this ancient practice has always been tied to a specific time, history and culture. We can walk for physical, intellectual or spiritual reasons; we can go on a pilgrimage, hike a mountain, stroll in the city or wander aimlessly. According to Joseph Amato, walking belongs to the history of gesture; it is a language which reveals a great deal about the identity and destinations of the pedestrian, his/her moods and feelings. From the beggar to the flâneur, the canon of Western literature has seamed into fiction a wide range of walks. In this course we will explore the metaphorical, symbolical and allegorical significance of walking and follow the gaits and footsteps of walking characters across different literary genres and contexts.