Nonhuman life forms in fiction and poetry from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, including plants and animals, intelligent machines and extraterrestrial aliens, and “legal persons” such as industries and railroads. The complexity and variety of nonhuman ecologies.
Texts:
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (Norton)
Emily Dickinson, Final Harvest
Frank Norris, The Octopus
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
Louise Erdrich, Original Fire
Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Octavia Butler, Dawn
Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2
Dave Eggers, The Circle
Jan 13 INTRODUCTION
THE NATURAL WORLD
Jan. 15 Melville, Moby-Dick
20 Melville, Moby-Dick
22 Melville, Moby-Dick
27 Melville, Moby-Dick
29 Melville, Moby-Dick
Feb 3 Emily Dickinson, Final Harvest
5 Emily Dickinson, Final Harvest
INDUSTRIALIZATION
10 Frank Norris, The Octopus
12 Frank Norris, The Octopus
17 Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
19 Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
NATIVES
24 Louise Erdrich, Original Fire
26 Louise Erdrich, Original Fire
Mar 3 Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing
5 Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing
ALIENS
24 Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
26 Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
31 Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
April 2 Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
7 Octavia Butler, Dawn
9 Octavia Butler, Dawn
THE DIGITAL
14 Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2
16 Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2
21 Dave Eggers, The Circle
23 Dave Eggers, The Circle
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
* Class presentation, 5-10 minutes (please email the outline to Prof. Dimock the night before)
* Short essay, 5 pp
(Outline due: Feb 10. Paper due: Feb. 17)
* Long essay, 10-15 pp
(Outline due: April 2. Paper due: April 23)
* Students taking the seminar to fulfill a pre-1900 requirement must write the long essay on pre-1900 authors.