“Nature is not great mother who has borne us. She is our creation. It is in our brain that she quickens to
life. Things are because we see them,
and what we see, and how we see it depends on the Arts that have influenced us.” Oscar
Wilde
Oscar Wilde was an early celebrity of the modern form- as famous for being famous as he was for whatever made him famous. A couple other quotes include this one that I rather like-"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught." And one more apt for Ishmael, "I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability." (Wikiquote.org)
Still, Wilde's clever phrase suggests that our understanding of nature comes from the stories well tell about it. For example, I don't intend to deny that Sela's grizzly bear was real, but even the use of that bear to reveal 'grace under pressure' uses the wildest of nature for a very human purpose. And similarly most of our nature stories have diverse human purposes separate from nature's perhaps opaque agenda. And now that most of us live quite distant from the wilderness, the 'arts' or media that create nature for us are even further from the the thing itself.
For the next two weeks we're going to the way back machine here, considering historical ways nature has been created in literature starting with Greeks and moving to Transcendentalists (with a brief pause for Hemingway). Then we'll start reading Into the Wild, a book about Chris McCandless who took some of these ideas as far as he could, and perhaps farther than he should.
Note- readings should be completed before each date: I'll be looking for discussion leaders, too.
2/25- Final Ishmael debate & Pastoral poetry lecture. (Hesiod/Virgil handouts HERE)
**pick this up if you missed class Friday!
2/27- Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"
*Aaron Schuler- guest instructor this week!
3/3- Hemingway's "Big Two Hearted River"
3/5- Orwell's "The Common Toad" Read/annotate for ways Orwell's visions of nature compare or contrast with Hemingway's.
3/10- Thoreau's Walden "Where I Lived and What I Lived For" & Romanticism lecture. Do check out the larger Thoreau website and dip into a couple other chapters of the book. Find one other quote you appreciate to put on the board and share with the class. Look for the writing assignment on the assignment page.
3/12- Thoreau essay draft due- peer and teacher review/work period
3/14- Essay due. Introduce/start 'Into the Wild'
Oscar Wilde was an early celebrity of the modern form- as famous for being famous as he was for whatever made him famous. A couple other quotes include this one that I rather like-"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught." And one more apt for Ishmael, "I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability." (Wikiquote.org)
Still, Wilde's clever phrase suggests that our understanding of nature comes from the stories well tell about it. For example, I don't intend to deny that Sela's grizzly bear was real, but even the use of that bear to reveal 'grace under pressure' uses the wildest of nature for a very human purpose. And similarly most of our nature stories have diverse human purposes separate from nature's perhaps opaque agenda. And now that most of us live quite distant from the wilderness, the 'arts' or media that create nature for us are even further from the the thing itself.
For the next two weeks we're going to the way back machine here, considering historical ways nature has been created in literature starting with Greeks and moving to Transcendentalists (with a brief pause for Hemingway). Then we'll start reading Into the Wild, a book about Chris McCandless who took some of these ideas as far as he could, and perhaps farther than he should.
Note- readings should be completed before each date: I'll be looking for discussion leaders, too.
2/25- Final Ishmael debate & Pastoral poetry lecture. (Hesiod/Virgil handouts HERE)
**pick this up if you missed class Friday!
2/27- Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"
*Aaron Schuler- guest instructor this week!
3/3- Hemingway's "Big Two Hearted River"
3/5- Orwell's "The Common Toad" Read/annotate for ways Orwell's visions of nature compare or contrast with Hemingway's.
3/10- Thoreau's Walden "Where I Lived and What I Lived For" & Romanticism lecture. Do check out the larger Thoreau website and dip into a couple other chapters of the book. Find one other quote you appreciate to put on the board and share with the class. Look for the writing assignment on the assignment page.
3/12- Thoreau essay draft due- peer and teacher review/work period
3/14- Essay due. Introduce/start 'Into the Wild'
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