Nature, Naturalists & Nature Writers

As our culture has become increasingly urbanized, a corresponding literature has evolved in which nature is viewed as our true home, a place where a profound serenity of a kind unavailable in the human world may be experienced. We will explore this changing view through the literature of different periods. In reading the works of Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Burroughs from the 19th century up through contemporary writers such as Krutch, Ammons, Lopez, Momaday, McPhee, Dillard, Ehrlich, Eiseley, Kumin, and Piercy. Students will be expected to learn some of the basic local ecology. Four papers and a weekly nature journal are required. EXP, PRJ, REA, WRI