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English 378 |
MWF 1:30 |
Texts:
This course is a highly selective survey of the ways in which literature has engaged the problem of the human relation to the natural world. To the extent that concepts of wilderness and the wild have been used to represent this relation as an opposition, or a tension, various treatments of "wilderness" in relation to "civilization," and of "nature" in relation to "culture" will be our particular focus of study. The first half of the course will explore the European context, beginning in antiquity. The second half will explore the American context, focusing on the American reaction to the New World wilderness and finishing in the present.
To get this kind of coverage, we'll need to maintain a brisk pace and accept a necessarily sketchy treatment of works and issues that could clearly occupy us at more length. One way to introduce depth into all this breadth is for you to develop your own plan for what you would particularly like to get out of the course. I will divide you into three groups, with rotating responsibilities, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for "position papers," responses to the reading that we will use to shape and focus our discussion. From those papers, four in each half of the course, you may wish to evolve your longer "projects" for the first and second half. I use the term "project" to cover the norm -- an 8-10 page paper treating some aspect of our work for that half of the course in depth -- and to admit exceptions, substantial pieces of writing (personal essay, short story, group of poems) that depart from the norm but produce an equivalent response in terms of depth, concentration and educational value. Such exceptions need to be negotiated and agreed upon in advance with me. You need to be thinking ahead to these projects/papers as you go, and you are urged to consult with me about them as they take shape, so that we can agree on their scope, focus, methodology, etc. A prospectus is due one week ahead of the actual date the paper/ project is due. This can be as substantial as a first draft or as brief as an outline, but it should help ensure that we both understand the nature and value of what you propose to do.
Schedule of Assignments:
Mon. Feb. 8: Introductory
Wed. Feb. 10: Antiquity: Gilgamesh, sections 1 and 2. Strongly recommended, from the reserve list: Harrison, Forests, ix-18; Oelschlager, Chapters 1 & 2.
Fri. Feb. 12: finish Gilgamesh. including Introduction. Finish Harrison and Oelschlager if you haven't. 1st "pos. paper" for Friday group.
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Mon. Feb. 15: The Greeks, the Romans, and the Middle Ages: On reserve: Forests, 19-81. Oelschlager, 68-73. First PP for Monday group.
Wed. Feb. 17: Gawain, The First Fitt. First. PP for Wednesday group.
Fri. Feb. 19: Gawain, The Second and Third Fitts. Second PP for Fr. Group.
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Mon. Feb. 22: Gawain, The Fourth Fitt. 2nd PP.
Wed. Feb. 24: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1. Reserve: Forests, 81-105. Oelschlager, 73-76. 2nd PP.
Fri. Feb.26: Dream, Acts. 2. & 3. 3rd PP.
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Mon March 1: Dream, Acts. 4 & 5 3rd PP.
Wed. March 3: The Enlightenment & Romanticism. On reserve: Forests, 107-33. Oelschlager, 89-96. 3rd. PP.
Fri. March 5: Romantic poets supplement: Burke and Blake. 4th PP
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Mon. March 8: Romantic poets supplement, selections by Wordsworth 4th PP.
Wed. March 10: Romantic poets supplement, selections by Byron and Shelley 4th PP.
Fri. March 12: Romantic poets supplement, selections by Keats, Clare and Hopkins. First half project descriptions due.
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Mon. March 15: Conrad, "Heart of Darkness."
Wed. March 17: Conrad, "Heart of Darkness" and Forests, 133-144.
Fri. March 19: Reserve: Abram, Chapters 1 & 2. FIRST HALF PROJECTS DUE.
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SPRING BREAK
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Mon. March 29 : Reserve reading: Nash, Prologue and first two chapters. 5th PP
Wed. March 31: Nash, chapters 3 & 4. Lyon, Part I, 1-4. 5th PP
Fri. April 2: Nash, chapter 5, Lyon, 49-57 and the Thoreau journal selections, 172-95. 5th PP
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Mon. April 5: Thoreau, "Walking," in Lyon, 194-220. 6th PP
Wed. April 7: Lyon, 57-63, Muir, "The Water Ouzel" (in Lyon, 221-33), Nash, ch. 8. 6th PP
Fri. April 9: Faulkner, Go Down, Moses, "The Old People." 6th PP _____________________________________________________________
Mon. April 12: Faulkner, GDM, "The Bear" 7th PP
Wed. April 14: Faulkner, GDM, "Delta Autumn," "Go Down, Moses" 7th PP
Fri. April 16: Aldo Leopold. Reserve: Nash, chapter 11; Oelschlager, chapter 7. 7th PP
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Mon. April 19: Frost, the poems in the reading supplement. 8th PP
Wed. April 21: Stevens, the poems in the reading supplement. 8th PP
Fri. April 23: Moore, "An Octopus" (reading supplement) 8th PP
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Mon. April 26: Lyon, 63-73, and Burroughs, "The Natural Providence," in Lyon, 234-46. Reserve: Nash, chapter 9.
Wed. April 28: Robinson Jeffers poems in the supplement. Reserve: Oelschlager, ch. 8
Fri. April 30: Henry Beston, "Night on the Great Beach," Lyon, 258-268.
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Mon. May3: Rachel Carson (Lyon, 277-295) and Elizabeth Bishop (3rd Supplement)
Wed. May 5: Theodore Roethke, the selections from North American Sequence. (3rdS)
Fri. May 7: Jarrell, "Field and Forest" (3rdS) and Dillard, "Nightwatch" in Lyon. Second half project descriptions due.
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Mon. May 10: The Gary Snyder poems in the supplement.
Wed. May 12: The Charles Wright poems in the supplement.
Fri. May 14: Edward Abbey, in Lyon, 346-355. Wendell Berry, in Lyon, 356-365.
SECOND HALF PROJECTS ARE DUE MAY 18 ______________________________________________________________
Reserve Books:
(An asterix (*) denotes multiple copies)
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