HNAR-381: Eco Writing

This creative writing course is built on the conception that writing is a form of action. An overview of the environmental movement, its philosophical positions such as Deep Ecology, Ecofeminism, Social Ecology and Eco-Marxism, Environmental Apocalypticism, and Gaia, will be explored through literature, art, and corresponding ecocriticism. We will begin our study with early twentieth century ideal 'pastoral' ecology and old wilderness writing, moving on to the postcolonial spectrum of eco literature as well as contemporary works of eco art. Special emphasis will be paid to hybridity and the cross culturation of cyborgs, queer and feral animals. Through immersion in these works, we will become more effective advocates in the American nature writing tradition and beyond: the ramble, poetry, manifesto, lyrics, fiction and the contemporary "eco art" proposal. Student work will be reviewed in peer groups and culminate in final short in-class presentations. Field trips and guest lectures will include local artists, musicians and writers. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, "Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine."