EGL 280 - Nature and Environmental Writing

Course Units: 1

(Spring; Lynes) (Offered intermittently) This course will focus on the traditions of nature and environmental writing in the American context, with an emphasis on the social and cultural dynamics of the environment and environmental action. Among other questions, we will ask ourselves: How do class, gender, and race enter into the nexus of social interactions that shape our environment? What is the place of literature in community, literacy, and environmental activism? What are the connections between the ways we speak and write about the environment and our actions toward the environment? How does the wilderness concept affect the ways citizens have access to public spaces? We will consider the concept of “nature” as we move through the course, culminating (if you like) with some nature writing of your own.

Attendance for community conversation is required, as are the completion of short papers, reading-aloud performances, quizzes. Engaged interaction with the poetry and with others in the class will be expected and appreciated. Selections from Reading the Roots: American Nature Writing Before Walden; Thoreau, Henry David: selections from Walden and Other Writings; Carson, Rachel: Silent Spring; selections from Colors of Nature; Leopold, Aldo: selections from Sand County Almanac; Savoy, Lauret: Trace: Memory, History, and the American Landscape; Schauffler, F. Marina: Turning to Earth: Stories of Ecological Conversion; Kingsolver, Barbara: Small Wonder, essays. Prerequisite(s): EGL 100 or EGL 101 or EGL 102 or a grade of 5 on the AP English Literature or Language test. CC: HUL, HUM