This module considers the challenges and benefits of studying literature in an age of environmental crisis. The module will involve study of contemporary ecocriticism and nature writing and will draw on literature that engaged with environmental issues from the medieval period to the present day.
Further topics may include the rhetoric of debates on climate change and environmental crisis, the representation of nature in the media, and key terms and concepts such as ecology, the Anthropocene, extinction, Gaia and biophilia. Overall, the module will examine how literature itself, as well as criticism, can contribute to productive responses to environmental crisis. Themes here may include creative practice; animals and plants; the relationship between aesthetics, ethics and politics; and fantasy and utopianism.
By the end of this module you should have learnt the following Key skills:
- Demonstrate and understanding of the functions and value of literature and literary study in the context of environmental crisis;
- Identify and use different critical perspectives on the environment and human impact upon it;
- Analyse writing about environmental change, including key concepts and terms;
- Demonstrate an awareness of the development of environmental writing over time.