ENG 298 - American Environmental Literature

A study of the development of environmental writing over the course of the American literary tradition. Concentrating mostly on essay and life writing, this course will investigate the development of a literature that both engages with and responds to the American environment from the early explorers to the most recent writers. Reading works from writers such as Cabeza de Vaca, Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, and Terry Tempest Williams, this course will examine the ways in which American writers have sought to understand and reflect the vital role nature plays in the construction of American personal, social, and national identity. In concert with these essays, students will also read theories of ecocriticism from Leo Marx, Carolyn Merchant, and others to advance our understanding of environmental criticism.

Prerequisites
ENG 101 or AP English credit

Credits 1