English 513--ECOLIT: Reading and Writing the Landscape

course description

SUMMER 2001 Schedule

[http://cla.calpoly.edu/~smarx/513/513syl.html]

class discussion board

MTWRF 8:30-11:10 AM, room 52-A12 and elsewhere
Instructor: Steven Marx phone: 756-241; Office: 47-25E (Faculty Office Building)
smarx@calpoly.edu or http://cla.calpoly.edu/~smarx

date

Topic/activity


location

Primary reading*

Reading in Schoenherr**

Reading in Murray***

Links

Writing due


book report

week I

7/16

Music and Nature

The Web and the Walk: Cal Poly Land [http://polyland.lib.calpoly.edu]

Ecolit Territory


Poly Canyon

Thoreau's "Walking" part 1[on website]

1-18 California's Natural Regions

.

OED--find any word

What is Ecocriticism?

Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment[ASLE]

Laurence Buell: The Environmental Imagination

English 380

Keeping a journal

7/17

Thoreau: Journal and Essay

Pastoral and Nature Writing

Thoreau 169-181; 188-207

.

 

Ch. 1 The Journal
Ch. 2 The Essay 7-23

English 380 Ecolit Journal

On Pastoral

Thoreau Website

.

 7/18

Evolution and Ecology


Arboretum

Darwin 158-169

19-48 Basic Ecology

.

 

.

 7/19

Tree Huggers and Photo Essays


Business school fountain

 

Fowles 657-670
Marx, The Message of the Trees
Marx. Present Perfect

.

Ch. 3 The Writing Process
Ch.4 The Opening
Ch.5 The Closing

 

Berry, Selected Poems 1(Jacalyn)

7/20

Santa Lucia mountains and front range


Horse Canyon saddle
Week 1 pics

Muir 279-298 (Rebecca)

48-69 Basic Geology

.

 

Journal readings to class


week II

7/23

Spirit of the Valley
conference schedule

Wilson 722-7(Jacalyn)

Trautman, Spirit of the Valley 8-34 (Pete)

261-281--Geology and Biotic Zonation of the Coast Ranges

.

 
2 Walden(Rick)

 

7/24

Summer heat


Peterson ranch

Trautman, Spirit of the Valley 35-68(Cynthia)
Steinbeck 499-504(Harold)

.

Ch.13 Research
Ch.6 Word Pictures
Ch.7 Figurative Language

 
3 and 4 All the Little Live Things (Pete and Alene)

 7/25

The Land Ethic: stewardship at Cal Poly

Leopold 400-421(Kake)

326-350 -Scrub Communities

.

 5The Edge of the Sea (Rebecca)

 7/26

Ecostyles

Austin 350-356(Joy)
Abbey 679-692(Alene)

.

Ch.8 Character and Dialogue
Ch.9 Storytelling
Ch.10 Style

  6 Land of Little Rain (Joy)

 7/27

Wild things and pets

Week 2 pictures

Trautman, Spirit of the Valley 69-98(10)Sonya

295-312; 361-387--Animals of the Coast Ranges and Scrub communities

.

  7 Mountains and Rivers Without End (Cindy)

week III

7/30

Hike--Stenner Canyon

meet in Yosemite parking lot, 8:30

none

.

.

 

Ecocritical essay due; Journal readings

 7/31

Author's visit

Trautman, Spirit of the Valley 99-124

.

Ch.12 Revision
Ch.15 Publication

 

8 Refuge(Sonya)

8/1

TBA

none

   9 The Solace of Open Spaces(Kake)

 8/2

265 Albert Drive[including lunch]map
Pictures

Ecocritical essays returned

none

.

.

 

Personal Essay due (draft); Student essay and journal readings


10 Faith in a Seed(Harold)

 8/3

Nature and Agriculture


Campus Farm

Personal essays returned with comments

Berry 763-774
Berry on website(Rick)

.

.

 

 

8/10

.

.

.

.

 

Final drafts of personal essay; submit as email attachment in MSWord or as webpage

*Primary readings, unless noted otherwise, are in Finch and Elder, The Norton Book of Nature Writing
**
Alan Schoenherr, A Natural History of California

***John Murray, Sierra Club Nature Writing Handbook

Writing Assignments [for suggestions]

Daily journal, serving as basis for the personal essay.

Critical presentation of one anthology reading to class (20%).

Book report

Critical study of one complete ecoliterary work-- 10-12 pages (40%).

Personal Essay-- 10-12 pages (40%) (to include):

  • Description of subject and spot
  • Explanation of natural history
  • Exploration of ethical issue
  • Presence of writer's persona
  • Narrative structure
  • References and allusions to ecoliterary tradition
  • OPTION: A Web site with pictures, sounds, or movies that includes the personal essay, possibly a contribution to the Cal Poly Land Web site.

This essay due in final draft, postmarked no later than 8/10/2001.

 

 

 

Ê