ENGL 3215 - Wilderness Literature

3 hours

Prerequisites: ENGL 1102 and a grade of “C”or better in ENGL 2110 or ENGL 2120 or ENGL 2210 or ENGL 2220 or ENGL 2310 or ENGL 2320. Historian William Cronon has written that “the time has come to rethink wilderness,” which is what this course aims to do through a critical examination of literary texts representing various conceptions of unpopulated, or depopulated, American landscapes. Wilderness as wasteland, wilderness as refuge, wilderness as frontier, wilderness as playground - these are only some of the ways that wilderness has been represented in the American popular imagination. Our explorations may include such authors as Henry David Thoreau, Jon Muir, Mary Austin, Evelyn White and Edward Abbey.When Offered: Fall or Spring, Fall 2014; Every Third Year