English and CSCT 2Z03: Nature, Literature, Culture
Winter 2012
Dr. Dilia Narduzzi
English and Cultural Studies
Email: narduzdn@mcmaster.ca
CNH 429
Phone Extension: 26563
Office Hours: Friday 2:15-3:15pm
Course Description
This course analyzes the concepts of nature and culture by considering how these ideas
have been represented in certain literary and cultural texts and practices. Nature is
historically a very difficult concept to categorize, called the most complex word in
English by cultural critic Raymond Williams. Discussions about nature are often
intermingled with discussions about culture in literature, film, and particular objects (i.e.
gardens, animals). In this course, we will examine the ways in which nature and culture
are represented in specific milieus, to include: popular literature, the apocalypse
metaphor, Victorian and contemporary versions of gardens, ‘wilderness’ and ‘wildness,’
postcolonial natures and the future of nature (i.e. genetic engineering, prosthetics). We
will be reading novels, theoretical articles, excerpts from non-fiction and watching
several films and film clips.
Assignments and Expectations
Essay # 1 -- due the week of Jan. 31st in tutorials (750 words)
Essay # 2 -- due the week of March 20th in tutorials (1500 words)
Tutorial Participations
Final Exam -- scheduled by registrar’s office
15%
30%
20%
35%
Required Reading Materials
Native Tongue Carl Hiaasen (1991)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick (1968)
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys (1966)
Custom Courseware Pack – available in the bookstore
Required Viewing
The Garden (2008)
1
Hanna (2011)
Recommended Viewing (we will watch clips in class):
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Waterworld (1995)
Blade Runner (1982)
Into The Wild (2007)
Schedule of Readings and Lectures
January 3 Syllabus and Course Introduction
January 6 Introduction to Major Themes
-- Raymond Williams, from Keywords, “Nature,” “Culture”
-- Bennett, Grossberg and Morris from New Keywords, “Nature,” “Culture”
-- Kate Soper, from What is Nature? “The Discourses of Nature”
January 10 Thinking through ideas of nature/natural/culture
-- Noel Sturgeon, from Environmentalism in Popular Culture, “The Politics of the
Natural in U.S. History and Popular Culture”
January 13 Popular fiction and environmentalism
-- Carl Hiaasen, Native Tongue
January 17 Popular fiction and environmentalism
-- Carl Hiaasen, Native Tongue
January 20 Nature and the apocalypse metaphor
-- Rachel Carson, from American Earth, excerpt from Silent Spring
January 24 Apocalypse: Thinking about weather
-- Apocalyptic popular culture, clips: Waterworld, The Day After Tomorrow
January 27 Apocalyptic fiction
-- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
-- short clips of Blade Runner
January 31 Animals and Nature
-- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
February 3
-- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
2
February 7 The Nature of Gardens, Victorian Gardens, The Garden Essay
-- Excerpt from Gertrude Jekyll, The Gardener’s Essential
-- Grace Kehler, from the journal Victorian Literature and Culture, “Gertrude Jekyll and
the Late-Victorian Garden Book: Representing Nature-Culture Relations”
February 10 The Nature of Gardens continued
-- Katherine S. White, from Onward and Upward in the Garden, “A Romp in the
Catalogues”
-- Excerpts Jamaica Kincaid, My Garden (Book):
February 14 Gardens continued
February 17 Gardens
-- Viewing Part One of The Garden (film)
February 21, 24 (reading week, no classes)
February 28
--Viewing Part Two of The Garden and lecture
March 2 Wilderness
-- Jon Krakauer, from Into The Wild, pgs. 1-85
-- William Cronon, from Uncommon Nature, “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting
Back to the Wrong Nature”
March 6 Wilderness
-- Into the Wild excerpt and Cronon continued
March 9 Postcolonial Natures
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
March 13
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
March 16
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
March 20 Representations of Nature, Genetic Engineering, The Future of Nature
-- viewing Hanna part one
March 23 Representations of Nature, Genetic Engineering, The Future of Nature
-- viewing Hanna part two
March 27 Genetic Engineering, The Future of Nature continued
-- Bill McKibben from The Future of Nature, “Designer Genes”
3
March 30 The Future of Nature: What is Normal? Prenatal Testing, Genetic Engineering,
Prosthetics
-- Michael Bérubé, “We Still don’t know what ‘normal’ really is”
April 3 Review and exam outline
Late Assignment Policy:
The term essay is due at the beginning of lecture on the date indicated. Unauthorized
late papers will be penalized one letter grade per day (for example: from B to B-).
Saturday and Sunday are included in the counting of late days. Essays more than 200
words over the assigned limit will be subject to similar deductions. Should you need to
request a formal due date extension, you must consult with one of the academic advisors
in your Faculty. Students are expected to retain a copy of each essay they submit.
Academic Dishonesty:
Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other fraudulent
means and can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment,
loss of credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads: “Grade of F assigned for
academic dishonesty”), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university.
It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For
information on the various kinds of academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic
Integrity Policy, specifically Appendix 3, located at
http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/ac_integrity.htm
The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty:
1. Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not one’s own or for which other credit
has been obtained.
2. Improper collaboration in group work. (Receiving a group grade for a presentation
without having done an equal amount of work on the project.)
3. Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations.
Students will be required to submit their work electronically and in hard copy so that it
can be checked for academic dishonesty.”
Attendance and Participation:
Students are expected to attend all lectures; to arrive fully prepared, having completed the
required readings and with course texts in hand; to listen actively and respectfully; and to
participate thoughtfully in class discussions and (occasional) group work. Be aware that
coming to class more than 5 minutes late, using cellphones, MP3 players or laptops for
anything other than taking notes disrupts your instructor and your fellow classmates.
4
Since 1982 the grading scale has been:
Grade
Equivalent Grade Point
Equivalent Percentages
A+
12
90-100
A
11
85-89
A-
10
80-84
B+
9
77-79
B
8
73-76
B-
7
70-72
C+
6
67-69
C
5
63-66
C-
4
60-62
D+
3
57-59
D
2
53-56
D-
1
50-52
F
0
0-49 -- Failure
5