Literary Map and Bibliography Show Detroit’s Popularity

With Local and National Writers

October 27, 2004--The Institute for Detroit Studies at Marygrove College has created two new resources on its Web site for people interested in Detroit history: a literary map that identifies Detroit locations, written about in works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama; and a voluminous bibliography of books, articles, novels, master theses, essays, and doctoral dissertations of Detroit history, politics and culture that dates from the late 19^th century to the present. The literary map was developed to demonstrate Detroit’s importance to literature and to encourage students and others to read literature about the city. The bibliography was developed as a research tool for anyone interested in learning more about Detroit.

“The last half century has witnessed unprecedented industrial and corporate disinvestment in Detroit, but at the same time, writers, artists, and musicians have invested in the city with language, vision and sound,” said Frank Rashid, editor of the Literary Map.

Tom Klug, associate professor of history, created the bibliography. It grew out of his teaching experiences over the last 20 years. The Detroit historian says he found hundreds of articles and books that were written about the city, which he made available to students to advance their interdisciplinary studies, and is now making available to the world community. Why all of the interest in Detroit?

“Ours is a city of extremes,” he says, “which has created a worldwide community of Detroit study scholars who have written about the highs and the lows of the city’s industrial, political, racial, labor, and other movements.” - more -

Literary Map & Bibliography, cont’d

Working with student researchers, Rashid has found approximately 400 Detroit-area literary locations and plans to include them on this work in progress. Already posted are historical and literary references for such well-known locations as Eastern Market, Tiger Stadium, Durfee Middle School, Chevrolet Gear & Axle, the Rouge plant, Grand Circus Park, Marygrove College, and Ste. Anne's and Second Baptist churches. To date, researchers have identified more than 340 published volumes of fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction by over 150 writers that have referenced Detroit sites. Some of these writers are novelists Joyce Carol Oates, Elmore Leonard, Harriet Arnow, and Jeffrey Eugenides; and poets Robert Hayden, Philip Levine and Dudley Randall.

Contributors to the map include faculty, students, alumni, and friends of the Marygrove College Department of English and Modern Languages. To access the map, visit: http://www.marygrove.edu/undergraduate/institute_for_Detroit_studies/Introduction.asp

To access the bibliography, visit the same Web site address and click on Master Bibliography.

Research and development of the Web site was made possible through the support of SBC and the Michigan Colleges Foundation.

Marygrove College is a liberal arts college located on 53 wooded acres in one of Detroit’s oldest residential neighborhoods. More than 1,200 students attend classes in its undergraduate and graduate programs in education, social work, the liberal and fine arts.

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