This seminar will consider the importance of connecting oneself to a specific place as well as to the natural world as a whole. Do we really need to be rooted? (Some have argued that we have more to lose than to gain by the connection.) And, if so, how to attach oneself to a particular place (other than by birth)? By buying/building a house or creating a garden—a human space in nature? By working and caring for the land? By creating art or literature that reflects and deepens one’s connection to (and love for) a place or landscape? By exploring, getting to know a place intimately, by walking?
Principal texts will include works of poetry by Andrew Marvell, John Clare, Edward Thomas, Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, and others. Critical and theoretical reading will include essays by Hannah Arendt, Henry David Thoreau, John Fowles, Catherine Hayles, William Cronon, and Robert Pogue Harrison. We'll also consider the light thrown on the topic by film-makers, artists and architects. Students will be expected to respond both critically and creatively to each week’s material.
About Professor Blaney
PAUL BLANEY is an Assistant Professor in the SAS Honors program and the English Department at Rutgers University. In 2011 he led Rutgers’ first Creative Writing Study Abroad Program to Lewes, England. Publications include poems, short fiction, the novellas, Handover and The Anchoress, and the novel Mister Spoonface. When not at his desk or in the classroom, he’s happiest out of doors, walking or pottering in the garden.