ENGL 214 — Environmental Literature * (3 Hours)

This course introduces students to some of the major texts of U.S. environmental literature, including non-fiction nature writing, fictional literature, and poetry, and to the historical and intellectual currents that gave rise to them. Its primary focus is on how the concept of nature has been defined and used at different times and by different groups of people, including Native Americans and European colonists at the time of the U.S. founding, transcendentalist thinkers of the 19th century, professional scientists and conservationists in the early and mid-twentieth century, twentieth and twenty-first century novelists and poets, and current advocates of environmental justice. Through these perspectives, students will gain an understanding of how nature functions as a cultural concept that reflects and shapes human values, and they will explore how these intellectual currents affect their own understanding of and experiences with the natural world.

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