Kommentar |
In this course, we will examine examples of North American environmental writing. Beginning with early aspects of nature writing, we will explore how a more thoughtful and ecologically sensitive relationship to nature has increasingly been advocated. This concern is also exemplified by so-called Ecocriticism, which, according to Greg Garrard, “explores the ways in which we imagine and portray the relationship between humans and the environment in all areas of cultural production”. We will look at seminal texts and discuss aspects as diverse as frontier life, utopias, pollution, apocalypse, land reform, protest, recycling, sustainability, vegetarianism, animal rights, and a gendered take on environmentalism as represented in various works. The course reading list, which will include Margaret Atwood’s novel The Year of the Flood, will be made available at the beginning of term. |