MA SE Seminar in Advanced English Studies (LIT/CULT)
Winter Semester 2025/2026
Topic: Narrating Nature
The kinds of stories we tell about nature and about our place within the natural world reveals a lot about how we see the world around us. Narrating nature explores famous and classic texts from a range of literary and media formats to look closely at the affordances and restrictions of each narrative mode, and changing representations of humans in the web of life, from different époques, cultures, and philosophical viewpoints.
Class Literature and Media
Make sure you’ve read everything before class. In class we will only discuss.
Children’s Books (you can watch readings on Youtube & I’ll bring the books to class): Dr Seuss, The Lorax, Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree, Eric Caryle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Novel: The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911). Available for free online: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/113/113-h/113-h.htm
Anime film: Nausicaa Valley of the Wind, Studio Ghibli (1984). Available on Netflix.
Documentary: Your choice, eg from Netflix or YouTube. I will use extracts from The Biggest Little Farm (John Chester 2018), and 2040 (Damon Gameau 2019).
- Trainer/in: Kennedy Melissa