Professor: Dr. Kaye Adkins
Office: 222J Eder (SS/C)
Phone: 271-5967
Email (My preferred form of communication):
kadkins@missouriwestern.edu
Office hours: 12:00-1:50 MW, 11:00-12:00
T Th, and by appointment
Critical and Philosophical Background:
The weapons with which we have gained our most
important vicotries, which should be handed down as heirlooms from father
to son, are not the sword and the lance, but the bush-whack, the turf-cutter,
the spade, and the bog-hoe, rusted with the blood of many a meadow, and
begrimed with the dust of many a hard-fought field.
---Henry David Thoreau, "Walking"
It is curious how certain things go to the bad
in the Far West, or a certain proportion of them,--bad lands, bad horses,
and bad men; And it is a degree of badness that the East has no conception
of,--land that looks as raw and unnatural as if time had never laid its
shaping and softening hand upon it.. . . Just as the old plutonic fires
come to the surface out there in the Rockies, and hint very strongly of
the infernal regions, so a kind of satanic element in men and animals--an
underlying devilishness--crops out.
---John Burroughs, Camping and Tramping
with Roosevelt
Beneath the frosty shadows of the fiord
we stood hushed and awestricken, gazing at the holy vision; and had we
seen the heavens opened and God made manifest, our attention could not
have been more tremendously strained. When the highest peak began to burn,
it did not seem to be steeped in sunshine, however glorious, but rather
as if it had been thrust into the body of the sun itself. . . . Peak after
peak, with their spires and ridges and cascading glaciers, caught the heavenly
glow, until all the mighty host stood transfigured, hushed, and thoughtful,
as if awaiting the coming of the Lord.
--John Muir, Travels in Alaska
How could such completely different views
of wilderness have been expressed by these three American writers (and
others)? This is the problem that we will address in English 430: Wilderness,
The Frontier, and The American Character.
When the 1890 census could no longer identify large, unsettled areas, the frontier was officially declared "closed." Wilderness had almost disappeared. This prompted historian Frederick Jackson Turner to argue for the importance of wilderness, or more accurately the taming of wilderness, in the development and definition of the American character. Through readings and discussion, we will explore how the relationship between humans and wilderness has been represented in American literature. We will examine how wilderness was first used to separate America from Europe, how (as suggested by Turner) the domestication of wilderness defined Americans, and how wilderness has come to be valued and preserved as a spiritual retreat. We will use an ecocritical approach, as we study the readings in their cultural context.
This is an LAS Ethics course, and it won't
be difficult to address ethical considerations in our discussions. Americans'
perception of wilderness, clearly illustrated in the literature we will
read, is essentially an ethical problem. A brief word about our focus-most
of the literature we read will present the European reaction to wilderness.
For most Native Americans, the concept of wilderness did not even exist.
After all, this was where they lived. We can even question whether or not
this land was truly as "wild" as Europeans pictured it. It was already
being managed and even farmed when Europeans arrived. (We'll discuss these
issues in the second half of the semester.) But back to the Europeans-We
will focus on a few key conceptual metaphors of wilderness that have dominated
European-American thought about wilderness: Wilderness as Hell, Wilderness
as Paradise, Wilderness as enemy, Wilderness as victim, and Wilderness
as Warehouse.
Course Objectives:
During the semester, you will
Every English major's library should include
a copy of the MLA Handbook (all papers must be submitted in MLA format)
and a book like Holman's Handbook to Literature (a good reference
for the terms we will be using in class).
Assignments:
Reading: You will be expected to read from 150-200 pages each week, and be prepared to discuss your reading when you come to class. I recommend that you plan your reading; set yourself a daily goal instead of waiting until Sunday evening to do your reading. Although I won't be checking it, I strongly recommend that you keep a reading journal. You will find this useful for writing assignments and for the final exam.
Discussion: Be prepared to discuss the readings on the day they are listed on the syllabus. Because we are only meeting once a week, we will continue our discussions on the Web Board at <http://miranda.cailab.mwsc.edu:8080/~wilderness>. You should post at least twice a week. More is better. You can raise new topics or respond to ideas that others have posted. Our conversations will start before we discuss the reading in class and continue after we have "finished" our discussion in class. The WebBoard is a good place to raise questions you have about the readings. Often, we will discuss the responses to these questions in class, as well as on line. I also encourage you to form your own study groups. These are all techniques that will help you become more engaged in the material you are studying, and thus understand it more effectively.
Discussion Leadership: During the semester, students will be responsible for leading one day of class discussion and facilitating discussion on the WebBoard. In most cases, you will work in pairs. You can decide how the two of you will divide up duties-by topic, reading, resource, activity, etc. I will be happy to discuss possible topics and resources during my office hours or on line.
Writing: There will be six short (about 300 words/two typed pages) reader response essays in response to major works or groups of works we read during the semester. The assignments for these will be posted on the WebBoard, no later than noon the Tuesday after we finish our in-class discussion. The subjects for these assignments will be drawn from issues that seem to raise the most interest and discussion in class and on line, so you will contribute to the topics you will be writing about. A longer paper that explores the wilderness theme in American literature will be due at the end of the semester. This will be a critical analysis, informed by research, of a book-length work by a single author-fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, either a single text, or a collection of shorter texts (short stories, essays, poems). You can choose a text written by any of the authors that we have read this semester, or another book that has wilderness as its subject (I'll give you a list of some possibilities). You must have your topic approved (in writing via email) by me. You will get the full assignment for this paper early in the semester.
Final Exam (and quizzes): I am not planning on giving quizzes, but if it becomes apparent that you aren't reading, don't be surprised by them. The final exam will be an essay exam on which you will probably be asked to choose two questions from a list and write a response to them.
Grading: Participation in discussions
is essential. Writing assignments should be well-written and thoughtful.
They should follow MLA format. Since this is a 400-level English class,
I expect nearly flawless grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Plan your
writing; allow time for revision and proofreading, even on the short essays.
You cannot pass the class if any written assignments are not completed.
| Grades will be weighted as follows: | |
| Class participation | 20% |
| WebBoard participation | 15% |
| Discussion Leadership | 10% |
| Short essays | 20% |
| Critical/research paper | 20% |
| Final Exam | 15% |
Absences: This class meets only once a week, so attendance is essential. Students missing one class period will have their semester grade lowered one letter grade. Students missing three or more class periods will probably not pass. If you miss class, check with your classmates to find out what short assignments you missed. If you must be absent and you know in advance, please talk to me about it; otherwise, talk to me when you return. I encourage students to participate in extra-curricular activities, and I realize that you have activities and obligations off campus, but your success in college is your responsibility. Successfully completing class assignments on time should be your priority.
Academic honesty: "Since honesty in the classroom is required, cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the college constitutes a violation." Policy Guide II B,C. In short, the work you turn in should be your own.
Disabilities: Please let me know during the first week of class about any physical handicap or learning disability if you need special help or accommodation in order to do your best work.
Schedule of Assignments: At <http://staff.mwsc.edu/~kadkins/eng430.htm>. Since I try to adapt each of my classes to the needs and interest of the students, check this often for changes. If for some reason, class is canceled, we will conduct it asynchronously on the WebBoard.