Fall 2006 Courses

English 120-01: Environmental Writing: Introduction to Creative Writing (Wang)

T/TH 1:00-2:30pm Old Main 03

This writing workshop explores the artistic modes of expression in poetry, fiction and non-fiction, using environmental issues as themes and topics. We'll examine Subhankar Banerjee's photographic journey on the arctic national wildlife refuge: Seasons of Life and Land, a book where form and content, art and politics, vision and determination meet seamlessly—the highest achievement of creativity. With guest lectures by professors of geography and environmental studies from Macalester and University of Minnesota, we will look into the core of environmental issues--the interaction between culture and nature, and how humans has been affected by the natural environment in the past and also how we have affected that environment and with what results.

Using Banerjee's project as a model, we'll choose our own research topics and fieldwork in the twin cities and the surrounding areas on nature and industry, land, water and forest resources, human population growth, agriculture, urban/suburb expansion, tour industry, biodiversity, energy use, climate change, and environmental health. We'll also learn how other environmental writers and artists throughout the centuries and across cultures create their imagery, figurative language, sound, rhythmic structures, voice, plot, character, point of view, etc., and how they use these techniques as carriers to reach their artistic goals. In other words, techniques, no matter how basic and important, are not their own ends in writing, but should be cultivated and used as tools to find our voices, and to reach as many people as possible with our ideas.

All writing assignments (poetry, stories, and essays) will be related to and/or based on the environmental topics you have chosen and researched. And all the assignments will be read and workshopped in class as part of the writing/editing process. Such practice is crucial to train your ear for the sound, rhythm and the flow of a poem and prose. It also trains both the reader and listeners the art of criticism and editing.

6-9 hours of research, fieldwork, reading and writing assignments outside of class per week are expected. And you are expected to enter this course with well-developed skills in research, field-work, some basic knowledge in photograph and photoshop, and close reading of literature and theory, and most important, with a passion and devotion for environmental issues as well as reading and writing.

Visit a Web site that the class has created to feature their work.

Fall 2006 Course Listings