Unit name | American Nature Writing |
---|---|
Unit code | ENGL30130 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Malay |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of English |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will introduce students to major developments in American writing and thinking about the environment between 1800 and 1975. It will consider some of the persistent tensions and paradoxes of American nature writing, explore the relationship between politics and literature, and also examine the often strained and ambivalent responses writers had to technological developments such as stop-motion photography, telegraphic communications, and the completion of the Pacific Railroad. By the end of the unit, students should have a broad but also intricate understanding of major events in American history and the way these events shaped and moulded writing about landscape and the more-than-human world.
Students will be given the opportunity to submit a draft or outline of their final, summative essay of up to 1,500 words and to receive feedback on this.
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
Teaching will involve asynchronous and synchronous elements, including group discussion, research and writing activities, and peer dialogue. Students are expected to engage with the reading and participate fully with the weekly tasks and topics. Learning will be further supported through the opportunity for individual consultation.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden,
John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierras
Mary Austin, The Land of Little Rain,
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek