for Friday, 10/7:
group 1 blog post due (on Thoreau's Journal, Marx/Buell or Leopold)
read A Sand Count Almanac to page 54
pick a passage to discuss
for Monday, 10/3:
please read the following for Monday. All of these readings will be handed out in class. Extra copies will be in the box outside my office.
--selections from Thoreau's journal, along with Peck's introduction
--pages 1-8 of Buell's intro. to The Environmental Imagination
--Leo Marx's second NYRB article, "The Full Thoreau"
--letter exchange between Buell and Marx
Come to class with a passage from the Journal to discuss, and some thoughts on the Buell/Marx exchange.
for Monday 9/27:
Group 2 responses due
Read up to page 255 ("Winter Animals") in Thoreau, and Leo Marx's "Machine in the Garden." Come ready to discuss passages from each text.
for Friday, 9/24:
Group 1 blog posts due
read up to page 189 ("Baker Farm"). Find a passage or two to discuss.
for Monday, 9/20:
Group 2 responses due by Monday
read Walden to p.121 (up to the chapter "Solitude.")
No prompt this time -- just pick a passage (or two) to discuss, as per usual.
for Friday, 9/17: Group 2 blogs about Thoreau this week.
Read the introduction and the long first chapter, "Economy," in Thoreau's Walden. As always, come to class with a particular passage to discuss, and some observations to get us started. Notice the tricky way Thoreau uses words: he's a big fan of double meanings, puns and wordplay. Pay special attention to all the economic terms he deploys in this opening chapter, and think about what he's up to in his re-definition of these terms.
for Friday 9/10: read Emerson's Nature and Cronon's"The Trouble with Wilderness." Mark a passage of each that you would particularly like to discuss. Be ready to start us off with an observation or a question about your selected passages.
A guiding question, should you want one: keeping in mind that Emerson originally planned to write a companion volume to Nature entitled Spirit, look for the dualities in Emerson's writing, and mark them when you find them. How does Nature fit within Emerson's dualistic worldview? Are there places when Emerson seems to hedge or hesitate about this view?
