Spring 2025
ENGLISH 190 009 - SEM 009
Research Seminar
Green Thought in a Green Shade
JAMES GRANTHAM TURNER
Class #:31188
Units: 4
Instruction Mode:
In-Person Instruction
Offered through
English
Current Enrollment
Total Open Seats:
11
Enrolled: 6
Waitlisted: 0
Capacity: 17
Waitlist Max: 5
Open Reserved Seats:
12 reserved for English Majors with 5 or more Terms in Attendance
Hours & Workload
9 hours of outside work hours per week, and 3 hours of student-instructor coverage of course materials per week.
Course Catalog Description
Research-oriented and designed for upper-division English majors. Intensive examination of critical approaches, literary theory, or a special topic in literary and cultural studies. Topics vary from semester to semester. Students should consult the department's "Announcement of Classes" for offerings well before the beginning of the semester.
Class Description
The natural world and the non-urban environment have inspired writers and artists, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, but they have also provoked intense critical debate, from the “politics of landscape” in the 1970s to ecological readings of literature now. Interpreters are torn between worshipful appreciation of the beauty and deep suspicion of the “ideology of Nature” – what makes it natural? Whose interests does it serve? What does it leave out? The main focus of this course will be the dream worlds created by poets: the Garden of Eden, the pastoral Golden Age, the ideal Classical landscape, the formal garden, the country estate, the “natural” wilderness. But we will also look behind the scenes, at the economic realities of farming and country life, and the early history of problems that are still with us (pollution, destructive technology). Most of our readings will come from English literature of the period – from Marvell*, Milton and Margaret Cavendish to Pope and some early Romantics – but I will bring in comparisons from painting, sculpture and landscape architecture. We will also sample critical writings on “the Country and the City” and the ecological approach to literature. All materials will be curated by me and available for downloading from bCourses.
In the last weeks, after we have finished the readings on the syllabus, students will select a work of environmental art, film or literature (from any period) and present their own interpretation to the class, showing how the readings encountered in this course have enhanced their understanding of it. These live presentations will then be expanded into the final research paper.
Title of the course comes from Andrew Marvell, “The Garden."
Class Notes
Book List:
ALL MATERIALS DOWNLOADABLE
This class satisfies the pre-1800 requirement for the English major.
https://english.berkeley.edu/major-requirements
ALL MATERIALS DOWNLOADABLE
This class satisfies the pre-1800 requirement for the English major.
https://english.berkeley.edu/major-requirements
Rules & Requirements
Requisites
- English 100 is prerequisite to English 190.
Repeat Rules
Requirements class fulfills
Meets the Humanities & Environment Course Thread
Reserved Seats
Reserved Seating For This Term
Current Enrollment
Open Reserved Seats:
12 reserved for English Majors with 5 or more Terms in Attendance
Terms in Attendance:
Undergraduate Classifications Information
Textbooks & Materials
See class syllabus or https://calstudentstore.berkeley.edu/textbooks for the most current information.
Guide to Open, Free, & Affordable Course Materials
Associated Sections
None