Guidelines: Responses to Course Texts

Guidelines: Responses to Course Texts

On selected dates during the semester, you will be required to turn in two-part responses to the main course texts. These responses are meant give you an opportunity to brainstorm and explore ideas, and engage more deeply with a specific aspect or passage of your choice. The format, including these two parts explained in greater detail, is as follows:

The title of each response will conform to the following template, using MLA guidelines to create a proper citation to the book in question: “Response to: Lopez, Barry. Arctic Dreams. New York: Vintage, 1986.”

1. Free-write (half-page): Spend roughly 10 minutes free-writing about the text—in essence writing down ideas as they come without worrying about honing your rhetoric or logic, or polishing your grammar. There is no need for perfection. The idea here is to brainstorm and explore.

2. Engage with the text (1–2 pages): Pick one aspect, such as a chapter, a passage, or a character, and perform a careful, condensed analysis of it. Be sure to quote from the text and to thoughtfully engage with specific passages. Please do not feel obligated to respond to the book as a whole. Be selective and pick a particular facet about the book that is problematic, and in your opinion, worthy of further analysis.

For an example, please see sample response posted below:

Sample Response

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. 1851. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.

1. Free-write

Herman the man, the manic white fantasy whale man, so how much of Ishmael was really you, and was that buffalo coat really as frightening as the idea of an albino whale? The east coast deer, the sailor… comes up with some great lines, almost weird enough and flip enough to sound contemporary, a mad digressing writer, yet full of pulling details, long but even a third read through is just as if not more compelling. Mad-cap details of whales and personally styled taxonomy – cetology. Always find it a little strange writing about a writer that has been so written about – writing on top of a pile of piles of piles of words evoked and spurred on by the odd-ball Ishmael’s tale. Fear, vengeance, drive, carnage of immense proportions, curious insights into the crew, fear chasing fear, killing what? Drive for total dominance, anger at impossibility of this sick want, destruction the path, the end.

2. The Text

The white whale, or Moby Dick – by far the most prominent animal of the novel – is representative of an infinite variety of fears and powers. It (he/she?) is a potential agent of god (if considered in the light of father Mapple’s sermon), just as likely an agent of the devil (carnivorous and voracious as the sharks in chapter 64), and the object of obsession, wrath, curiosity, vengeance, hatred, and even admiration.

While “what the white whale was to Ahab” (Melville, 189) seems to be an insane wrath coupled with the sole intent to hunt down and kill the whale, to Ishmael, Moby Dick and its whiteness represent a plethora of meanings. In chapter 42, Ishmael “almost despair(s) of putting it in a comprehensible form” (189) – as did I upon completing the chapter and learning that “and of all these things the Albino whale was the symbol” (198). However, the “incantation of whiteness” (197) suffered by Ishmael seems to hover between a sense of the (politically powerful) sacred and one of (horrific) death and “supernaturalism.”

To begin his pondering and to “explain (him)self…else all these chapters might be naught” (190), Ishmael focuses upon the beauty imparted to natural objects by the color white, then slips into the “royal pre-eminence” (190) of white when used by the ruling classes from such far-flung places as Siam and Rome. When he reaches the Persian fire worshipers and the White Dog ceremony of the Iroquois, Ishmael makes the move into what he calls the “divine spotlessness and power” (190) of the color.

However, when “divorced from more kindly associations” (191) or its most obvious political and religious usages, whiteness to Ishmael immediately takes on hideous and terrifying, yet also occasionally reverential meanings. Ranging from polar bears and great white sharks to the repellent “Albino man” (193), and Froissart’s murdering “White Hoods of Ghent” (194), Ishmael expounds upon the terrible aspects of whiteness. To this he adds the “supernaturalism” (194) of the color, especially when associated with death’s pallor, shrouds and ghosts. Rounding up his herd of verbiage, Ishmael zeros in upon a series of natural exhibitions of whiteness which cause particular terror in the human (mariner) soul. Included in the list are impenetrable fog, whitened waters, Antarctic seas and frozen wastelands. In “conclusion,” Ishmael reaches the ultimate colorlessness of whiteness and meditates upon the actual and horrifying “charnel house” beneath the ubiquitous yet false face-painting of Nature (198).

The great white whale indeed has a great load of significance to bear, split into the two loads of “the most meaning symbol of spiritual things” and the “intensifying agent in things the most appalling to mankind” (197). It is a wonder its back does not sway and snap under all of the weight.

In addition to the white whale, whom Melville is so exhaustively precise in describing, there are scores of other animals referred to in Moby Dick. Both the albatross and the White Steed carry a demanding spirituality and a hovering, indescribable horror. The white shark and white bear carry an intensified sense of “intolerable hideousness” (191). There is “the last of the Grisly Bears (who) lived in settled Missouri” (156) used as a comparison of Ahab’s outraged gloom (who recalls, strangely enough, Faulkner’s The Bear). Ishmael’s “Cetology” of chapter 32 speaks for itself. There are the herds of Brit, or plankton, which he compares to field of grass being mown down by the scythe-like baleen of the Right Whales in chapter 58. The mysterious giant squid, believed prey of the sperm whale, is seen as an ill-fated omen by the crew of the Pequod (parallels between the “tribe of Massachussets Indians, now extinct” (70) and the fate of the doomed ship?). Demon-like sharks are referred to in chapters 64 – 69, and described as maggots in the “one huge cheese” (309) of the sea. Towards the end Ishmael compares the “snow-white wings of small, unspeckled birds” with the “gentle thoughts of the feminine air,” and the rushing of “mighty leviathans, sword-fish, and sharks” with the “troubled, murderous thinkings of the masculine sea” (543).

Environmental Literature, Travel Writing, Ecocriticism: Sample Definitions

Environmental Literature, Travel Writing, Ecocriticism: Sample Definitions

When I am asked for a broad description of the field, I say that it is the study of explicitly environmental texts by way of any scholarly approach or, conversely, the scrutiny of ecological implications and human-nature relations in any literary text, even texts that seem, at first glance, oblivious of the nonhuman world. In other words, any conceivable style of scholarship becomes a form of ecocriticism if it's applied to certain kinds of literary works; and, on the other hand, not a single literary work anywhere utterly defies ecocritical interpretation, is off-limits to green reading.

From: Slovic, Scott. “Forum on Literatures of the Environment.” PMLA 114.5 (1999): 1102.


Travel writing often involves a central paradox. For a variety of reasons, travelers often make secret or leave out much of what they see and experience, and concentrate only on the most bizarre, exceptional or picturesque, that is, not on the things that best describe a region, country or territory but on those that may be most appealing or attractive to themselves or to potential readers (or those that best fit the latter's notions of what a place should look like). The writer thus tries to be faithful only to what s/he or his readers want, expect or are likely to enjoy. S/he wants to amuse, impress or astonish them rather than stimulate their critical powers or let them arrive at conclusions of their own about the places or cultures under scrutiny.

It is now generally understood that travel writing belongs to a wider structure of representation within which cultural affiliations and links -- culture itself -- can be analyzed, questioned, and reassessed. Travel writing is acknowledged to have some say both in the construction of the places traveled in, through representing them in particular ways, and also of the "traveler" society itself.

From: Romero, Ramon. “Silencing the Center(s) in American Travel Writing: From Washington Irving to Globe Trekker.” The European English Messenger 17.2 (2008).


The phenomenon of literature-and-environment studies is better understood as a congeries of semi-overlapping projects than as a unitary approach or set of claims. These projects include the following, and more: (1) consideration of the possibilities of certain forms of scientific inquiry (e.g., ecology and evolutionary biology) and social scientific inquiry (e.g., geography and social ecology) as models of literary reflection; (2) textual, theoretical, and historical analysis of human experience; (3) study of literature as a site of environmental-ethical reflection; (4) study of the rhetoric of any and all modes of environmental discourse, including creative writing but extending across the academic disciplines beyond them into the public sphere, especially the media, governmental institutions, corporate organizations, and environmental advocacy groups; and (6) inquiry into the relation of (environmental) writing to life and pedagogical practice.

From: Buell, Lawrence. “Forum on Literatures of the Environment.” PMLA 114.5 (1999): 1091.

See also the Ecocritical Library on the website of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE): http://www.asle.org/site/resources/ecocritical-library/

Syllabus

Dr. Patrick Barron
Office: Wheatley 6-32
Office Hours: 4–5:30pm MW and by appt.

English 343: Literature, Culture, and Environment ~ Fall, 2010
Class Number 24219 / Section 01
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Room Wheatley 1-34, MW 5:30–6:45pm

Required Texts *
Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us, 9780195069976
Gianni Celati, Voices from the Plains, 9781852421434
Barry Lopez, Crossing Open Ground, 0679721835
Adrienne Rich, Your Native Land, Your Life, 039330325X
W.G. Sebald, The Emigrants, 0811213668
Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway,
and Denmark, 0803258321
*All texts are or shortly will be on reserve in Healey Library.

Course Description
In this course we will study some of the ways in which literature has dealt with the physical environment, concentrating on examples of narrative and nonfictional prose, as well as poetry. Among the topics to be considered will be the investigation of ordinary landscapes as culturally- as well as naturally-constructed phenomena, especially as presented through the lens of travel writing. Questions addressed will include: What is the relation between environmental experience and literary representation of the environment? How is environmental perception affected by cultural and ideological forces? How do the definitions of “nature” and “wilderness”—and the values attached to these—change from age to age? The course will address such questions through a combination of approaches: lecture, interactive discussion, and both formal and informal writing.

Structure and Assignments
You are expected to attend every class and to have completed the readings for each session in advance. Come to class prepared to talk about the issues they raise. As a part of this preparation, you should mark striking passages in the text, write comments in the margins, make notes about ideas that seem to you most important, and formulate questions that arise for you in the course of the reading. To do an adequate job of reading, note-taking, and reflecting on what you have read, you should allow for about an hour for each 20–30 pages. In the case of sessions dedicated to discussion (marked in the schedule with asterisks), you should also come with a one- to two-page typed response to the assignment for that day. These responses will not be graded, but they will be read and turned back with a check, check-plus, or check-minus acknowledging the level of their energy and ambition. If for any reason you feel reluctant to join class discussion, please talk to me, and we will see what can be done to make it easier for you.

Start your papers as early as you can to allow time for your ideas to develop. Always write at least two drafts. Ask a friend to read an early draft and to make suggestions for improvement. Check the spelling and proofread your papers carefully. The fewer mechanical problems in your paper, the more clearly and forcefully you will speak to your reader. Successful students will write essays whose interest derives not only from content, but also from the harmony of that content with style, tone, and the sequencing of ideas. Their essays will be grammatically correct, with only rare errors, that address complex, often abstract topics and that effectively shape and support a strong central concept. Emphasis will be placed on proficiently integrating primary and secondary sources into the texts of essays, and citing those sources conventionally.

Course Requirements
1. Complete short exams for each of the six books we will read.
2. Respond in writing and verbally to your classmates’ written work.
3. Complete assignments.
4. Write a midterm paper.
5. Participate in class activities (note: participation means active engagement in the discussion, not mere attendance).
6. Write a final paper.

Grading and Attendance
Your final grade will reflect the progress you have achieved by the end of the course. It will be determined approximately as follows: 6 short book exams: 60% (10% each); midterm paper: 10%; final paper: 20%; assignments and class participation: 10%. If you are forced to miss class because of illness or emergency, please notify me or ask someone else to notify me (by phone or email). On a day you are not in class you are still responsible for the work covered that day, including homework and in-class assignments. If you have an unexcused absence during the first two weeks of class, you may be dropped from the class in order to make space for others who wish to enroll.

What to Expect
You will be expected to submit your work on time and come prepared for class activities. Late assignments, with the exception of an illness or family emergency, will not be accepted for credit. All assigned work must be completed in order to pass the course. It is your responsibility to take exams at the scheduled times and know the location of the exams, to make alternative arrangements in advance if you have a legitimate reason for not being able to take an exam, and to provide appropriate explanation and documentation if you miss an exam without making prior arrangements.

Please use email only for very brief correspondence, such as to request a time to meet or to notify me of an unavoidable absence due to sickness. All email messages should be written in appropriate language and be carefully proofread before being sent. Please do not use email for lengthy questions regarding assignments or your progress in class. Matters of import that necessitate detailed discussion are best addressed during an appointment in my office.

Please be aware that a grade of incomplete may only be given where a portion of the assigned or required class work, or the final assignment, has not been completed because of serious illness or extreme personal circumstances. If a student’s record is such that he or she would fail the course regardless of the missing work, then the student fails.

Turn off all cell phones, “smart phones,” and any other electronic devices at the start of class.
For matters regarding academic dishonesty and misconduct, please refer to the University of Massachusetts Boston Code of Student Conduct and the UMASS Policy on Academic Dishonesty as posted on the university website.

If you have a disability and feel you will need accommodations in order to complete course requirements, please contact the Ross Center for Disability Services (Campus Center 2nd Floor, Room 2010) at (617) 287-7430.

Calendar
Some readings in addition to the assigned course texts will placed on reserve in the library or will be available online. Assignments may change, so be sure to double-check if you must be absent. Come to class having carefully read the assignment listed for that day. On dates marked in the schedule with asterisks, a one- to two-page typed response to the book is due on the assigned reading.

M. Jan 25 Course Introduction
W. Jan. 27 Read syllabus. Barry Lopez, Crossing Open Ground, read 1-18. Come to class with questions about the syllabus and a definition of “travel writing” (either your own or someone else’s, properly cited in MLA style).

M. Feb. 1 Lopez, read 19–54
W. Feb. 3 Lopez, read 55–100; print and read Christian Martin, “On Resistance: An Interview with Barry Lopez,” <>.

M. Feb. 9* Lopez, read 101–154; response paper due.
W. Feb. 10 Lopez, read 154–end; Short Exam 1

M. Feb. 15 Presidents Day
W. Feb. 17 Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us, read Part I to end of “The Sunless Sea”

M. Feb. 22* Carson, read rest of Part I; print and read “The Nature of Knowing: Rachel Carson and the American Environment,” by Vera L. Norwood (Healey Library Databases: JSTOR); response paper due.
W. Feb. 24 Carson, read Part II

M. March 1 Carson, read Part III; Short Exam 2
W. March 3 Gianni Celati, Voices from the Plains, read 9–42

M. March 9 Celati, read 43–88
W. March 10* Celati, read 89–124; print and read Robert Lumley, “Gianni Celati: ‘Fictions to Believe in’.” The New Italian Novel. Ed. Zygmunt Baranski and Lino Pertile. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1993. 43-59 (on reserve in Healey: PQ4174 .N483 1993); response paper due.

M. March 15 Spring Break
W. March 17 Spring Break

M. March 22 Celati, read 125–end
W. March 24 Short Exam 3; Midterm Paper Due.

M. March 29 W.G. Sebald, The Emigrants, read 1–24
W. March 31 Sebald, read 25–64; print and read Christopher C. Gregory-Guider, “The ‘Sixth Emigrant’: Traveling Places in the Works of W. G. Sebald.” (Healey Databases: Project Muse)

M. April 5* Sebald, read 65–146; response paper due.
W. April 7 Sebald read 146–end; Short Exam 4

M. April 12 Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters, read vii–18
W. April 14 Wollstonecraft, read 19–72

M. April 19 Patriots Day
W. April 21* Wollstonecraft, read 73–141; print and read Florence S. Boos, Review of Wolstonecraft’s Letters (Healey Databases: JSTOR); response paper due.

M. April 26 Wollstonecraft, read 142–end; Short Exam 5
W. April 28 Adrienne Rich, Your Native Land, Your Life, read part I

M. May 3 Rich, read part II
W. May 5* Rich, read part III (to page 90); print and read Anne Blackford, review of Your Native Land (Healey Databases: JSTOR); response paper due.

M. May 10 Rich, read rest of part III; print and read Harriet Davidson, “‘In the Wake of Home': Adrienne Rich’s Politics and Poetics of Location” (on electronic reserve in Healey).

W. May 12 Last day of class; Short Exam 6

Final Paper Due (TBA) ______________________