ENGL 207 - Eco-Writing

FDR: HA
Credits: 4

Prerequisite: Completion of FW FDR. Every Tuesday expeditions involve moderate to challenging hiking. An expeditionary course in environmental creative writing. Readings include canonical writers such as Frost, Emerson, Auden, Rumi, and Muir, as well as contemporary writers such as W.S. Merwin, Mary Oliver, Janice Ray, Gary Snyder, Annie Dillard, Tich Nhat Hanh, Wendell Berry, and Robert Hass. We take weekly “expeditions” including creative writing hikes, a landscape painting exhibit, and a Buddhist monastery. “Expeditionary courses” sometimes involve moderate to challenging hiking. We research the science and social science of the ecosystems explored, as well as the language of those ecosystems. The course has two primary aspects: (1) reading and literary analysis of eco-literature (fiction, non-fiction, and poetry) and (2) developing skill and craft in creating eco-writing through the act of writing in these genres and through participation in weekly “writing workshop.”

Green. Planned Offering: Spring 2016 and alternate years.