| Lerninhalte |
The environmental positions of American literature differ from those of other literatures because of the special significance of "nature" in American political mythology. From the earliest beginnings of European colonialism, we find a remarkable coexistence of brutal realizations of the European extractivist tradition and romantic idealizations of a sustainable treatment of non-human life. In this class, we will disentangle American literature's representations of the puzzling contradictions between pastoralism and exploitation, between cultivation and degradation, between celebrations of the wild and its ruthless destruction in the name of "progress," between the nostalgic myth of natural abundance and apocalyptic fatalism – from colonial times to the present. Special attention will be paid to ecofeminist positions and transcultural exchanges inspired by encounters with indigenous and other non-European epistemologies and spiritualities. In addition to theoretical studies, we will read selections from older texts as well as four post-1900 literary assessments of America's ambivalent discourse about the environment.
Students are required to acquire a Reader (Stud.IP), as well as the following texts:
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (1915) ISBN-10: 1784870528
- Ursula LeGuin, The Word for World is Forest (1976) ISBN-10: 1399607790
- Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower (1993) ISBN-10: 472263669
- Linda Hogan, Solar Storms (1995) ISBN-10: 0684825392
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