| Lerninhalte |
Richard Powers' novel The Overstory (2018) gives us access to the environmental history of the United States through a multicultural cast of characters variously connecting to trees – one of humans' most used and abused companion exploited as a natural resource. The novel consists of human-arboreal stories that extend from the nineteenth century to the Pacific Timber Wars of the 1990s – a devastating reduction of America's ancient redwood forests. We will read this novel in conjunction with additional material – texts on trees (e.g. by Ursula LeGuin), Cameron's movie Avatar, Indigenous tree stories, and various documentary materials. Above all, however, we will assess the literary and aesthetic contribution of one of America's most refined contemporary writers to discussions about ecological sustainability, climate change, and species extinction.
Students are required to purchase a Reader and the following novel:
- Richard Powers (2018). The Overstory. Heinemann/Penguin. ISBN-13: 978-1785151644
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