346. American Literature and the Environment.

A study of the literary response to the taming of the American wilderness. The course focuses on the close association of nature and art in American literature, examining how American writers, in shaping story and poem, have tried to reconcile the processes and values associated with “wilderness” and “civilization.” Some attention is given to the historical and cultural backgrounds of the wilderness theme. Writers such as Crevecoeur, Jefferson, Cooper, Thoreau, Melville, Twain, Whitman, Jewett, Frost, Faulkner, Cather, Steinbeck, McPhee and Dillard are studied, but an effort is made to choose works not usually taught in the surveys of American literature. Also offered as Environmental Studies 346 and through Outdoor Studies.