WELCOME
The Contemporary Nature Writers course welcomes students of diverse identities, experiences, and ideas to read about, reflect upon, explore, and write about the natural world. The community we will create together as we do so is important to this course — the more voices we hear and hear together, the more we’ll all be enriched and empowered as we seek to understand, find pleasure in, and work for the health of the world of which we are a part.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This discussion course will examine representative samples of nature writing during roughly the last forty years in order to survey its diversity of form and theme, and to assess its value to the individual reader in formulating the reader’s philosophy of nature. Forms to be explored include novel, personal essay, popular lyric, feature and documentary film, environmental polemic, natural history essay, and magazine writing. Emphasis will be on major figures such as Edward Abbey, Louise Erdrich, Wendell Berry, Leslie Marmon Silko, Margaret Atwood, Gary Snyder
COURSE GOALS
1. Examine a range of themes and genres representative of contemporary nature writers.
2. Outline a general framework of traditions of form and theme in American nature writing,
including that of women, Black Americans, and Native Americans.
3. Consider questions of influence in terms of literary form and environmental attitudes.
4. Sample aspects of nature literature in popular culture, particularly popular lyrics, and film.
5. Analyze the values underlying environmental literature and compare these with dominant cultural values.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students who comply actively with the course requirements will be able to
1. Analyze sample themes of contemporary nature writers in the context of environmental
issues.
2. Recognize and respond to common contemporary genres of creative nonfiction, poetry,
fiction, and film.
3. Connect current examples of nature writing with continuing traditions.
4. Enhance her/his/their personal philosophy of nature and the environment.
