Selected Course Descriptions

African American Literature

This survey of African American literature from its origins in the slave narrative to the present vivid prose of some of America’s best writers considers the impact of slavery and race consciousness on literary form and power. Readings include letters, essays, poems, short stories, and novels of some of the following authors: Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Pauline Hopkins, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison. Intermediate. Prerequisite: a previous literature course or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year.

City/Country: American Literary Landscapes 1860–1920

This class focuses on American fiction from the realist/naturalist period (roughly 1860–1920), a time when enormous changes were occurring in and on the American landscape. Increasing urbanization, immigration, and industrialization corresponded both with a desire for ‘realistic’ fiction of social problems, and nostalgic stories of a more ‘realistic’ rural life. For the first time there was a national literature, resulting from the capabilities of large publishing houses, urban centers and mass production—but this national literature was acutely self-conscious of regional differences, and especially of the tension between city and country. As writers tried to paint the American landscape in literature, their works subsumed major social issues to place and formal arguments about the true nature of realistic description. Examining works that portray factory towns, urban tenements, midwestern prairies, New England villages, and the broad spectrum of American landscapes, we look at how a complex, turbulent, multi-ethnic, and simultaneously urban and rural American culture defined itself, its realism, and thus its gender, class, race, and social relations and sense of values, against these landscapes. There are two extra, evening classes during week 7 (Short Fiction Week), and a modest lab fee. Evaluation is based on weekly response papers, two short papers, and a short fiction project, as well as class participation. Introductory/Intermediate. Offered every other year. Prerequisite: Writing Seminar I (or the equivalent) or permission of the instructor.

Contemporary Women’s Novels

This course selects from among the most interesting, diverse and well-written of contemporary women’s fiction to focus on questions of women’s writing (and how/whether it can be treated as a literary and formal category), gender identity and women’s issues, and the tension between sameness and difference among women’s experiences, and narrations of women’s experience, around the world. The course begins by examining two relatively unknown yet rather extraordinary novels from earlier in the twentieth century: Alexandra Kollantai’s Love of Worker Bees (1927) and Sawako Ariyoshi’s The Doctor’s Wife (1967). After these, we read from truly contemporary authors and quite varied authors published within the last twenty years, like Buchi Emecheta, Gloria Naylor, Nawal El Saadawi, Hanan Al-Shaykh, Tsitsi Dargarembga, Fadia Faqir, Dorothy Allison, Rose Tremain, Julia Alvarez, Lisa See, and Achy Obejas. Students each choose an additional author to study and read a novel outside of class. An extensive list of authors is included in the syllabus. Evaluation be based on class participation, either two short papers or one long paper on works discussed in class, a presentation to the class of the outside novel, and a final evaluation essay. Intermediate/Advanced. Prerequisite: a previous literature course and permission of the instructor.

Environmental Literature

Part of human ecology is the stories we tell each other. Rather than dividing the world into simply “fiction” and “truth,” literature can provide multiple perspectives on humans and their landscapes. The team teaching this course brings together very different views of literature and the environment in an attempt to explore the relationship between human ecology and “environmental” literature. We look closely, argue actively, and have a lot of fun asking seriously irreverent questions. These include, but are not limited to: What is Environmental Literature? Is it literature about environments, or about environmentalism? To what extent is literature of the environment obligated to some kind of objective truth? Can literature be about the environment without being political? What about Nature Writing? How does a writer’s social position (gender, class, race, etc.) determine how he/she sees the environment or nature? Correspondingly, how deeply does a particular “environment” determine what can happen to people in that environment and what they see? Are there universal human stories and how does environment influence these? What is the relation of “environment” to “landscape” to “place”? This course requires extensive reading, writing and discussion. Prerequisite: Permission of instructors. Intermediate.

From The City on a Hill to New Utopias:
Social Reform in the United States, 1760–1850

This team-taught course explores currents of reformism and social movements in early American history from the colonial period to the end of the mid-nineteenth century. Using religious reform, abolition, and the movement for women’s rights, the course investigates a broad range of literary and historical texts that illustrate the contradictory cross-currents of the social and cultural history of the United States. Ranging from social experiments in communal life based on existential, socialist, and Christian philosophies to the armed challenge to slavery by John Brown and his abolitionist allies, the multiple radical and reformist movements that emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were led by all manner of Americans and provide an excellent understanding of the nation’s social fabric. The fundamental struggle over the nature of community in the pre-revolutionary colonial society and in the emergent nation becomes a major theme. Discussions about the abstract rights of all people in a radical republican tradition took place in the context of local communities rooted in traditions of slavery, patriarchy, and hierarchy. The tension between idealist impulses in American political and social thought conflicted daily with more banal and authoritarian realities, and this provoked heated and at times violent struggles over political power, economic structures, and emergent cultural forms. Beginning with some of the providential and utopian visions of the first generations of settlers on the eastern seaboard, the course places religiosity and communal forms of moral discourse at the center of debates over the nature of human nature, the political rights of colonial subjects, and the justifications for revolution against “tyranny.” Numerous religious and social movements spun off of these early reform impulses to make the period between 1750 and 1850 one of the most intriguing in American history. By examining major socio-cultural changes as reflected in poetry, prose and propaganda as well as historical interpretations, students will gain an understanding of the experimental and profoundly radical visions that defined American political life in the ante-bellum period. Writing-Focused. Offered every two or three years.

Human Ecology Core Course

This interdisciplinary seminar is designed to provide students with an introduction to human ecology. We take an interdisciplinary approach to a problematic topic, drawing upon the work of novelists, philosophers, political theorists, economists, artists, and others. In so doing, our aim is to provide a model for a human ecological approach to a complex social phenomenon, and to give students experience in defining and addressing a complex subject. An additional goal of this course is to introduce students to critical reading, writing, and discussion skills that are an essential ingredient for student success at College of the Atlantic.

Section E (Waldron): Wealth in Fiction, Economics, and Ecology

This section will approach the topic of wealth through studying a combination of international literature the need for and evolution of human ecology. Students will consider what wealth and the related phenomenon of poverty are and have the opportunity to compare the capitalist and Marxist economic theories through both primary sources and fiction. We also spend a substantial amount of time reading and discussing Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. The 19th century U.S. writer Thoreau’s close observation of the natural world and ideas about economy articulate a view of the world in which the environment is primary and wealth is spiritual rather than monetary. Thoreau leads us into a brief survey of the western development of ecology and human ecology as approaches to understanding and valuing the world’s complexity—as well as to acting intentionally and beneficially upon that world. During the last weeks of the course we read essays on human ecology interspersed with novels by writers such as Banana Yoshimoto (Japan), Graciela Limon (El Salvador), and Nadine Gordimer (South Africa). We use fiction both to practice reading literature as human ecologists and to gather a diversity of perspectives on the many ways wealth can be conceptualized. By the end of the term students should have: 1) a greater and more personalized understanding of the concept of wealth; 2) a basic understanding of the field of human ecology; 3) a greater sense of how interdisciplinary work is carried out; 4) exposure to a wide variety of thinkers and writers; 5) stronger analytic and discussion skills; 6) an improved ability to see the big picture and to place events, actions, and persons in contexts; 7) a sense of why and how conceptual work matters; and 8) an understanding of why and how literature helps us do human ecology.

Literature, Science, and Spirituality

A survey of Anglo-American literature from the Scientific Revolution to the present, this course focuses on the ongoing debate about the role of science in Western culture, the potential benefits and dangers of scientific experimentation, the spiritual, religious, social and political issues that come about with the Ages of Discovery and Reason, and their treatment in literature. Specific debates include concerns over what is “natural”, whether knowledge is dangerous, the perils of objectivity, and the mind/body dichotomy; works include Shelley’s Frankenstein, Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, Brecht’s Galileo, Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams and Naylor’s Mama Day as well as short stories and poems. Introductory/Intermediate. Sometimes taught as Writing-Focused. Offered every two or three years.

Native American Literature

This course is a challenging introduction to several centuries of Native American literature, the relevance of historical and cultural facts to its literary forms, and the challenges of bridging oral and written traditions. Authors include such writers as Silko, Erdrich, Harjo, Vizenor, and McNickle as well as earlier speeches and short stories. We also consider non-native readings and appropriation of Native American styles, material and world views. Taught as both Intermediate/Advanced and Introductory and Writing-Focused. Offered every other year.

The Nature of Narrative

This is an advanced course in which students practice the human ecology of literary analysis. We explore the ‘mind’ or consciousness of fictional writing (specifically, novels) by looking at how narratives make meaning, and at how we make meaning from narratives. The course surveys some of the best modern fiction, with a particular focus on works that highlight narrative technique, stretch the boundaries of the imagination, have a rich and deep texture, and push against the inherent limitations of textuality. Students also hone their reading and analytic skills as they work closely with twentieth century texts that broke new literary ground. Some of the authors we may read include: Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Djuna Barnes, John Dos Passos, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Helene Cixous, Italo Calvino, Toni Morrison, Milan Kundera, Gerald Vizenor, Manuel Puig, and Jeannette Winterson. We also study some narrative (and possibly film) theory. Evaluation is based on class participation, frequent short response and passage analysis papers, and an independent project. Advanced. Permission of instructor required. Offered every other year. Class size limited to 15.

Nineteenth Century American Women

This course studies the American novel as written by women of the nineteenth century. It focuses on how women’s issues and styles change over the course of the century, with its revolutionary economic, technological, social and political shifts, as well as on enduring questions. As we read from among the wide selection of nineteenth-century American women novelists (who outnumbered and outsold male authors)—such as Rowson, Foster, Child, Cooke, Fern, Stowe, Phelps, Jewett, Chopin, and Gilman—we consider how they have shaped the tradition of the novel and social values Americans encounter today. Introductory/Intermediate. Prerequisite: Writing Seminar I or permission of the instructor. Offered every other year.

Tutorial: Austen, Bronte, Eliot

This is an advanced course that explores in depth the works of three major writers of the Victorian period: Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and George Eliot. The set-up of the syllabus, group meetings, and individual projects require that participants talk about connective factors between texts and the development of women writers’ voices and narrative structures during this period. Emphasis will also be placed on the construction of the heroine, the use and manipulation of the marriage plot, developments in linguistic and narrative practice, and developments in each author’s work-from the juvenilia to the later fiction. Historical perspectives, gender roles, and theoretical approaches will all be taken into consideration as we analyze novels such as: Lady Susan, Northanger Abby, Persuasion (Austen); The Professor, Villette, and Shirley (Bronte); and The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch (Eliot). Rather than prepare papers and exams, participants will prepare and ask questions of each other, develop response papers and passage analyses, and carry out a sustained independent project to be presented to the group. The outside project will involve additional research into one of the major authors, to include both the reading of another novel, biographical information, and critical analyses. Projects will give participants the opportunity to explore a particular author, question, or form in depth. The reading load for this tutorial is very heavy. Evaluation will derive from an ongoing peer review focusing on preparation, participation, insight, critical thinking, and the outside project-to be presented orally and developed in an analytic fashion to be determined by the class. There will be a third week course review. Prerequisites: Contemporary Women’s Novels and Nature of Narrative or the equivalent and permission of the instructor. Advanced.

Tutorial: Cross-Cultural Women’s Fictional Narratives

This is an advanced course that explores in depth the connections between and among modern cross-cultural women’s novels. The set-up of the syllabus, group meetings which discuss two books at the same time, and individual projects require that participants talk about connective factors between texts and the nature of women’s and cross-cultural narration. Historical perspective, cultural differences, and gender roles are taken into consideration as we analyze recent women’s fiction by such authors as Toni Morrison, Julie Shigekuni, Nora Okja Keller, Cristina Garcia, and Sigrid Nunez. Rather than prepare papers and exams, participants prepare and ask questions of each other, conduct in-session written “exams,” and carry out a sustained independent project to be presented to the group. The outside project focuses on three or four additional texts which are chosen and put into broad cultural and historical perspectives and/or discussed in terms of trends in women’s literature. Projects give participants the opportunity to fill in perceived gaps in their reading or explore a particular narrative or cultural form in depth. The reading load for this tutorial is very heavy. Evaluation derives from an on-going peer review focusing on preparation, participation, insight, critical thinking, in-session writing, and an outside project to be presented orally and developed as a course design. There is a third week course review. Prerequisites: Contemporary Women’s Novels or the equivalent and permission of the instructor. Advanced.

Tutorial: City/Country: American Literary Landscapes II 1900-1960

This tutorial focuses on American fiction of the twentieth century. As those who have taken City/Country I or a U.S. History course should be aware, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a time of dramatic change in the American landscape. Over the twentieth century, increasing urbanization, immigration and industrialization, the development of large-scale and industrial agriculture, the construction of a national highway system and the rise of the suburbs continue this trend. As in the nineteenth-century, “realistic” fiction of social problems and nostalgic stories of a more “realistic” rural life compete to represent the American landscape in literary form. However, along with the Depression there are new elements, representing the intensity of economic and psychological despair not only for the working poor but for the middle and upper classes. During this period the national literature found itself without a religious framework while continuing to be self-conscious of regional differences, especially of the tension between city and country. American literature from the period 1900–1960 shows ever more dramatic realistic representations of the changing social landscape as well as innovative experimental structures aiming to represent the experience of and feeling for place in new, intensely evocative and secular ways. Examining works that portray the broad spectrum of American landscapes, we will look at how a complex, turbulent, multicultural, and simultaneously urban and rural American culture defines itself and its sense of values including those of gender, class, race and social relations against these landscapes. Authors we may read include: Wharton, Fitzgerald, Yezierska, Anderson, Cather, Faulkner, Hurston, Glasgow, Dos Passos, Steinbeck, Petry, and O’Connor. There will be two extra, evening classes during week 6 (Short Fiction Week), and a modest lab fee. Evaluation will be based on frequent response papers, two short papers, and a short fiction project, as well as class participation. Intermediate. Preference will be given to those students who have completed City/Country I: American Literary Landscapes 1860-1920. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.

Tutorial: City/Country: American Literary Landscapes III 1960–2000

This tutorial focuses on American fiction of the late twentieth century, recognizing that in the history of American literature, landscape has consistently attracted significant literary, political, and social attention. In the latter part of the twentieth century, increasing environmentalism alongside urbanization, immigration and continued sprawl dramatize and politicize the fictional debate about the virtues of city and country. Previously marginalized populations claim a right to discourse about the American landscape and significant differences in class and privilege compete for representational authority. Is the country a site for gentlemen’s farming or the last bastion of rural culture? Is the city the downtown of the elite or the new democracy of multicultural neighborhoods? Although regional differences continue to contribute to perceptions of the American literary landscape, nationalizing and globalizing trends negate much of the power of difference. All of these factors set up the question of the course: How does fiction represent the American environment in the late twentieth century? Examining works that portray a wide range of American landscapes, with frequent acknowledgement of the immigrant perspective, we will look at how a complex, dynamic, multicultural, and simultaneously urban and rural American culture defines itself and its sense of values against its landscapes. Authors we may read include: Paule Marshall; James Baldwin; Saul Bellow; Philip Roth; Alice Walker; Carolyn Chute; Joan Didion; Ernest Gaines; Dorothy Allison; Barbara Kingsolver; April Sinclair; Gish Jen; Sigrid Nunez; Colson Whitehead; Bharati Mukherjee; and others. There will be two extra, evening classes for presentations and a modest lab fee (less than $10.00) for photocopying. Evaluation will be based on frequent response papers, two short papers, and an independent book project, as well as class participation. Intermediate. Preference will be given to those students who have completed City/Country I or II. Prerequisite: Writing Seminar I (or the equivalent) and a previous literature course or permission of the instructor. Limited to 6.

Tutorial: Feminist Thought and Feminisms, Theory and Praxis

This tutorial provides a comprehensive introduction to western feminist thought, the multiplicity of feminisms, and the relation between theory and praxis in feminist studies. We spend the first portion of the term studying the history of feminist thinking, with readings from The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, Feminist Theory (bell hooks), No Turning Back (Estelle B. Freedman), Feminisms (Herndl and Warhol) and Feminist Thought (Rosemarie Tong). The primary goals are to gain a thorough understanding of the evolution of twentieth-century western feminist thought, the differences among feminisms, the interconnections of theory with lived experience, and the nature of equality and inequality. We then move on to discuss social perceptions of feminism and feminists along with collections of writing by women protesting their exclusion from what they perceive as the feminist movement. The second half of the term will develop critical tools for analyzing these perceptions by focusing on class, race, gender, and sexuality, with additional readings from the texts used in part one. Our primary questions at this point will be: What does it mean to be a feminist?; What defines a feminist?; and How or when are feminisms exclusionary? For the final three to four weeks, students focus more specifically on women’s bodies, desire, and other contemporary issues. Students take one or more field trips—ideally including a three day tour of Boston bookstores and women’s centers—and interview selected elders about their sense of what makes a feminist. Each student keeps a journal throughout the term, based on responses to the readings and to observations of culture. Students also do five short papers (2-4 pages) or projects as a way to share their own thinking and interpretation of feminist theory with the group. Finally, since feminist thought always includes both theory and praxis, students should continually explore the connections between the feminist scholarship they read and the activism or consciousness they experience. Intermediate. Permission of Instructor required.