The ecology of people and earth

Environmental Literature

Assignments

Reference dates in U.S. History

Calendar

Weeks

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VIII Calendar for Environmental Literature, Fall 2015 –
Week, Dates                            Class activities         Topics                                           Assignments
1,
August 24             First day
August 26             Who are we, you and me?
August 28 }           Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Frost contrasted
2,
August 31              What is Environmental Literature?
September 2             Washington Irving's, Sleepy Hollow
September 4 }       √ read your favorite passage from Irving to the class.
3,
September 7 | Labor Day holiday, no class
September 9           • William Cullen Bryant, Thanatopsis | What are themes?
September 11 }           √ Read Thanatopsis aloud in the woods
4,
September 14     •  draft of interpretive writing about the Garden √
September 16          • William Faulkner, The Bear
September 18 }            √ Read Faulkner aloud in the woods
5,
September 21          • The Big Two Hearted River Ernest Hemingway
September 23          • read your favorite passage from this to the class.
September 25 }        √ What is nature writing vs. interpretive prose? draft of writing about Mead Botanical Garden
6,
September 28          • Writing about natural subjects
September 30          • Annie Dillard "Living like Weasels"
October 2 }           Interpret a part of Mead Gardens due
7,
October 5           • Joyce Carol Oates Against Nature
October 7           • interpret your passages from this to the class
October 9            Fall Break
8,
October 12            Fall Break (Columbus Day)
October 14           • Report on three writer's works of your choice from: list due 10-14, based on Oates' criticism.
October 16 }           The writer as myth maker, or reciter of facts?
9,
October 19          • Mark Twain or Samuel Langhorne Clemens “Letters from Earth” [1910] pp. 1-19.
October 21          • interpret your passages from this to the class
October 23 }           A reading of a selected Thoreau work in the woods
10,
October 26          • Terry T. Williams, The Open Space of Democracy
October 28          • interpret your passages from this to the class
October 30 }           Report verbally and in writing on what Thoreau, Williams, & Twain have in common.
11,
November 2          • Stoppard Arcadia
November 4          • interpret your passages from this play to the class
November 6 }         √ read & interpret your passages from Stoppard.
12,
November 9            • W. E .B. Dubois, The Black Belt, or Philadelphia
November 11          • interpret your passages from this to the class
November 13 }       √    Can the garden teach us about racial identity?
13,
November 16          • Zora Neale Hurston on Eatonville, Florida
November 18          • interpret your passages from this to the class
November 20 }       √ What does the garden teach us about America?
14,
November 23          • Willa Cather, The American Southwest: Death Comes for the Archbishop
Thanksgiving break
November 30          • Essay on a theme from three or more authors dueDrafts submitted
15.
December 2          • Verbally Report on your written drafts
December 4 }           The last Garden visit
December 7          2PM-4PM
Final Exam: verbal reports; A rehearsed "On a well defined theme"    Monday, December 7 @ 2–4 p.m.

Important links

• reality
• Analysis
• Economics
• weltanschauung
• T. E. Hulme on description.
• Ian Tattersall on falsifiable knowledge.
• Warwick Fox on the use of words precisely.

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