English 247-103
Literature and Human Experience: Literature of Ecological Vision
Instr: Poniewaz, Jeff (Poe-nYEAH-vAHsh)
Office: CRT 288; 229-5007
e-mail: poniewaz@uwm.edu
Office hours:
Course Information: R; 6:00-8:40pm; OFC 1135
Course Description
This course will appeal to those who love Nature and are interested in ecology as well as to those who love great writing in general. We'll begin with Nature-centered American Indian cosmology as contrasted with post-Columbus European adversity to wilderness--an adversity that escalated in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. Amid that dominant attitude toward the conquest of Nature, we'll discover strong dissident ecological inklings among the Romantic poets. From there we'll trace ecological vision in American literature from Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau to the present. Through our reading and discussion we'll develop an understanding of ecology and will attempt to find a path of reconciliation between humankind and Nature. Along the way we will discern an Ecological Revolution that could become as influential and pervasive as the Industrial Revolution and thereby offset-just in the nick of time--the Nature-destroying tendencies of the latter. We will examine some of the key texts that evince breakthrough ecological vision and at the same time qualify as great literature.
Course Requirements
Students will write a midterm and a final term paper (each 5 to 6 pages doublespaced, minimum) which will carefully explore one or more of the authors or texts. Fifty percent of the final grade will be based on these two term papers (25 percent per paper). 25 percent will be based on the final exam. The remaining 25 percent will be based on attendance and participation in discussion. Late papers and incompletes will be accepted only for excellent reasons, and at the discretion of the instructor. All viewpoints that are presented respectably will be respected; grading will be based on the soundness of presentation of one's viewpoint and not on the viewpoint itself. Differences of opinion are stimulating and welcome.
Required Texts (It's important to obtain the editions specified below.)
A Sand County Almanac with Essays from Round River by Aldo Leopold. Ballantine paperback, $6.99.
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. Harper paperback, $13.
Desert Solitaire--A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey. Ballantine paperback, $6.99.
The above texts can be obtained at Woodland Pattern, 720 E. Locust (opens at noon and is closed on Mondays). In addition, the student must obtain a copy of the instructor's personally selected anthology, available for about $22 (at no profit to the instructor), and a special modern-reader-friendly edition of Thoreau's Walden and Other Writings, both available (the Thoreau as of Feb. 10 for about $13) only at Clark Graphics, 2915 N. Oakland Ave (just north of Locust). Clark's is open 8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Mon. thru Fri.; on Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Sun. Total price for the five texts is about $56.
