WesMaps - Wesleyan University Catalog 2012-2013       Summer Session       Winter Session       Home       Archive       Search
CS92PROD
American Pastoral

ENGL 277
Spring 2013
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: AMST 219
Certificates: Environmental Studies, Environmental Studies

Pastoral has a bad reputation. Its meaning is too often limited to idealized depictions of life in a picturesque landscape where the living is easy. In fact, literary pastoral has always incorporated the real with the ideal, the harshness of nature as well as its beauty, the exploitation of land and people along with their mutually beneficial interdependence. In this course we will look at both sides of the pastoral tradition as it manifests itself in two elements of American culture: the wilderness and the farm. Readings will range from Christopher Columbus and Daniel Boone to Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, and include novels by Willa Cather and Jane Smiley as well as works by African American and Native American writers.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(ENVS)
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on DEC-11-2024
Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email ? Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459