LIT4676 Imagining Nature, Imagining Ourselves
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits
This upper-level liberal arts course investigates some of the ways in which the American literary imagination has dealt with _nature,” both as a physical environment and as a concept, and how we are currently imagining our future in the face of urgent threats to the health of the planet. How is _nature_ experienced and represented? How have humans defined themselves in relationship to the _natural_ world? How are we responding to current changes in our natural environment? These and other questions will be studied through a variety of texts (fiction; poetry; reflective and theoretical essays) by American writers since the mid-19th century. A substantial portion of the course is devoted to our own time and its specific challenges. Each student will have an opportunity to develop a guided research project on a topic, writer, or text of her or his own interest, to be presented to the class. Over the semester and on a daily basis, we will also create an archive of texts, issues, and questions related to the course.
Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate liberal arts courses (CVA, LVA, HSS, CSP, LTA in any combination)