Thomas Piketty: Capitalism and Lit [Charles Mudede]

From Thomas Piketty’s bestseller Capital in the 21st Century: “It is surely no accident that money—at least in the form of specific amounts—virtually disappeared from literature after the shocks of 1914–1945.” This class wants to return an understanding to writing not only of wealth but also economics as a whole. It will explain the key ideas of Piketty’s book and provide basic instruction on the key concepts of economics, a field that has been dominated by mathematics for thirty years and is only now returning to its proper place: politics. A twenty-first century writer should feel at home in economics (yes, that’s a pun). About half of the class will be writing workshop.