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STS 378-451 Fall2008

Rob Friedman
331Cullimore Hall
(973) 596 5765

  
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Course Overview

How has nature been depicted in literature, and what does that say about the relationship between people and the environment?  The class will begin by establishing where each of us stands philosophically on ethical, ontological and epistemological questions about the environment (e.g., Do you look at nature as an intrinsic good or as an instrument for physical comfort? How does establishing a definition of nature affect how we think and act in relation to it?)  During the semester, we will read works of writers who have taken nature as their primary subject and/or theme.   Although nature writing goes back to the earliest written words in all cultures, we will limit our examination of the topic, beginning with American writings of the mid-19th and move through to contemporary times.

Readings

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature

Edgar Allan Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym

Henry David Thoreau's Walden

Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”

Rebecca Harding Davis's “Life in the Iron Mills”

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”

John Borroughs’ "Phases of Farm Life"

John Muir’s "My First Summer in the Sierra"

Aldo Leopold’s “The Land Ethic”

Charles Chesnutt's "The Goophered Grapevine"

Charles Chesnutt's "Po' Sandy"

Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat”

Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron”

Wallace Stevens’ “The Snow Man”

Wendell Berry’s “A Timbered Choir”

Gary Snyder’s “this poem is for deer”

Gary Snyder’s “John Muir on Mt. Ritter:”

Mary Oliver’s “At Great Pond”

Mary Oliver’s “Morning Poem”

Michael Pollan’s “Weed It and Reap”

Verlyn Klinkenborg’s “The 17 Percent Problem and the Perils of Domestication”

Peter Matthiessen’s “Big Oil and the Whales”

Verlyn Klinkenborg’s “Come and Gone”

Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto”
 
 
 

REQUIRED TEXTS
Given that we’re working online, I’ve assembled a reading list of works that are accessible online.  You’re free to print what you wish or buy physical books of the works. There will be some opinion pieces from the newspaper and other venues posted on the course conference system, Moodle.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
There will be two position papers, and final project.   You will also be responsible for responding to questions I and the other students post in the conferencing system and explaining the texts’ relevance to you.  I’ll provide a comprehensive overview of the text in its historical context and a bit of biography about the writer, discuss the effects the writing has had on the general public and/or public policy over the years, the main themes of the text and their relevance to today. 

GRADING
Assessment formula:
Two position papers:                        10% each
Weekly online conference:            50%
Final project:                                    30%

Late papers will not be accepted for full credit; penalty of one half letter grade per day late.  Revisions of on-time papers accepted up to one week after receiving graded work back from me; since there will be comments and corrections made with “track changes” enabled, revisions should be made on the same file. Weekly comments have a closing date/time, and while I encourage you to keep any conversation going, you will not be given credit for comments made after any particular weekly closing. It’s a really good idea to log into the conferencing system a few times a week, if only to help you stay engaged.