| Textbooks:
(at VCU Bookstore)
The Norton Book of
Nature Writing. College
Edition (paperback) with
Field Guide.
Prodigal Summer.
Barbara Kingsolver.
We will also be reading
much of Thoreau's Walden, which is on-line. However,
I highly recommend your finding a paperback text you can underline
and keep.
Range
of course
We will primarily explore
and define what is developing as an important and popular literary prose
genre in America, the nature essay/book, although we will also read some
poems and stories with strong "nature elements." Essentially, there are
two directions in this genre: descriptions of experiences "in" nature or
what Krutch calls "witnessing," and discussions of philosophical issues
about the relationship between humans and nature. These are not strictly
divided, however: how humans negotiate their "place" in nature, how science
relates to literary art, ties between subject and object, Western and Eastern
thought, analysis and emotion, wildness and civilization--all pose issues
these prose writers, and we, will ponder. We will also read some nature
poetry and fiction.
But this is a literature course,
not just philosophy or ecology. So our attention will also be on style
and rhetoric in these writers and the shape of this new interdisciplinary
genre with common topics and concerns--what makes each work unique and
special as a literary work and what they all have in common, literarily
speaking. To read in this way, we will be noticing, interrogating, and
comparing, which means careful reading, individually and as a community
of readers. This process, which at best is both intensely personal and
collaborative, results in "exploding" the possible meanings of each text.
This is a Writing Intensive course. Brace yourself--we will be writing--often
and repeatedly, outside and inside class, informally as part of class discussion
and formally (with papers which you will critique and revise.)
Nature writing--which we will
write as well as study--is, almost by definition, an outdoors kind of activity.
Though one turns to books and essays for information, ideas, and guides
for style, as we will in the beginning of the semester, ultimately creative
writing must be based on one's own experiences with nature, past and continuing..
And there is no time to be outdoors quite like springtime. Somehow--singly
and/or together--you will need to find good places to go to observe and
meditate on writing, for this is where good nature writing--and understanding
of what makes nature writing good--starts. Plan on doing this "observational/meditational"
writing at least once a week in your personal journal. This is where you'll
find the heart of your own creative nature writing.
Perhaps it seems odd that
we are studying and writing such a personal/outdoorsy kind of writing in
the computer environment. It probably is. But what we are doing in this
virtual web is writing (or "e-talking") with each other, sharing our experiences
and insights, and attending to the voices of many other writers by focusing
carefully on their text, with the unlimited margins that the computer can
give us. Our job is to find and share the words which recreate those
encounters with nature which we and our authors have. Although the language
of nature is alien to us, we will do what we can to translate.
Nature writing also needs
readers, for it communicates and re-creates a personal encounter with nature,
written to persuade the reader of the value of that and similar experiences,
even of the value of nature. Good readers who will respond help make even
better writers. And that you will have in this computer-grounded
class!
Attendance
and Discussion Policy
All of our discussion will be on-line
with Web forums for each class "meeting" which will center
on two evenings, on Mondays and Thursdays. You should come
to the discussion forum with a response written to the readings
for that day which you will post immediately. Your Field Guide
should give you some ideas of questions to address, but you
certainly should not be limited to those. For 75 minutes for each
day's discussion (which can be split; it's good to do one final "read
and respond" toward the end) you should read through the
all of the developing discussion, posting responses in the threads,
including initial threads that I post. This works best if you do it
during the evening, so that there
can be back-and-forth discussions of issues; however, you may have
later thoughts and the forums
will stay active for at least 24 hours and will be available before
the class as well. . Late work will be penalized somewhat; not participating
in the on-line discussion for the full 75 minutes can cost you course
points big-time!
[this is a message that some people understand only too late--don't
be one of them]
There are three times when
you should appear in the Hibbs 329 computer center in person: the
first Friday afternoon of the semester on January 17, for a mid-term
and for a final (between 2 and 4 on Fridays in the computer center.)
If that proves impossible for you, we can make alternate arrangements.
Though we will talk on-line, this IS
a nature writing course, and you really need to be outside these
walls, concrete and electronic. You'll
need to be outdoors for those nature observations in your journal
in particularl. We might even
plan some group outings--to the James River, to my little wild place
on the marsh, or anywhere else someone thinks of
[let me know by e-mail if you are interested]. .
Honor Policy
Because our work will often
be collaborative, there are important integrity issues. You should not
copy or print anyone's work from the computer without their permission
and you should not "jump ahead" by reading hypertext or other responses
before you have written your own. In other words, respect the work of others
and in no way present it as your own. Any materials you use from the Web
(and you should find much that is good) should be acknowledged with the
web address and author.
If you have any special problems
that I should know about that might impede your learning in this class,
please let me know immediately.
Study
Questions
We will explore
extended who, what, where, why, how questions.
WHO is writing? WHAT sort of person? What
does he/she reveal about him/herself? What does he/she hide? Is he/she
isolated from others? from social concerns? What sort of questions does
he/she ask? Who is the author writing for? What relationship is he/she
trying to develop (teacher? Provocateur? friend? expert?)
WHY is he/she writing? Is a purpose stated
or implied? Is it achieved?
WHATis the author's view of his/her or
man's relationship with nature?(united, controlling, separated, alienated,
conversing, etc.?) Does he/she see limits for either? Is he/she more Western/logical/
positivistic /scientific or eastern/Indian/spiritualized/literary/mystical?
HOW do time and place matter? Does the
writer travel or root? Is the perspective microcosmic? Is his/her attitude
toward the place passive or active/changing? WHERE does the writer place
him/herself in time? How does this author present his/her vision of nature
uniquely in language and style? HOW are imagery and metaphor used? Does
he/she question the limits of "naming" language?
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