The Athlete in the American Imagination

In the 21st century, the lines continue to blur between people who engage in physical activities and sporting events and “athletes”—those people whose public and private identities are shaped by commitment to their sports. The figure of the star athlete, the character of professional and amateur athletes, and questions about the roles that athletes play in American culture and politics have preoccupied American artists across media since at least the Gilded Age. This course will explore how writers and filmmakers have imagined the figure of the athlete and the significance of sports in the 20th and 21st century. We will study American works of fiction, nonfiction, film, and graphic novels centered on the figure of the athlete. How do writers and filmmakers represent the figure of the athlete and the forces that shape their experiences both when involved in their sports and in other aspects of their lives? How do athletes represent themselves in works of nonfiction (in both writing and film) when they tell their own stories? How do writers and film-makers explore questions about gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and political ideology through their depictions of American athletes?