ENG-344 Author Seminar: Henry David Thoreau
This course focuses on the writings of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)—a poet, a surveyor, an abolitionist, and a designer of pencils. Thoreau also has been called the father of American nature writing, an inspiration to both Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, and an astutely insightful practitioner of what has come to be known as ecology. He remains a central figure in the American literary and cultural imagination. Through studies of his political essays, natural history essays, journal writings, and most famous work, Walden, we will consider Thoreau’s oeuvre as a lens to more fully understanding nineteenth-century American history and culture. We will also consider why he remains--both in the United States and abroad--one of the most famous writers in all of literature.
Prerequisite
200-level Introduction to Literary Studies course (any version)