LWR 346 – Paper #1: A Critique of Human-Nonhuman Relations
We have read a diverse cross-section of American writers regarding human relationships with the nonhuman, or natural, world. These thinkers all work beyond the useful scientific understanding of nature, and focus instead on the often overlooked – but equally important – spiritual, aesthetic, and philosophical perspectives. For this first paper, then, I would like you to place these thinkers in conversation through Madeleine George’s play Hurricane Diane.
Paper Prompt:
There are two parts to this paper:
In the first part, I would like you to explore the following three groups, where in each case, you explain how the writer critiques the human relationship with the nonhuman world, as well as how they imagine positive relationships might be cultivated:
Choose one Foundational American writers (Emerson, Thoreau, Muir, or Austin).
Choose one Contemporary American writers (Hay, Leach, Haraway, Tsing, Hogan, or Abram).
Choose two essays by Indigenous American author Robin Wall Kimmerer, from her book, Gathering Moss.
In the second part, I would like you to carefully analyze Madeleine George’s Hurricane Diane as a case study, demonstrating the concepts you have drawn from the above three groups.
For example, you might begin by using ideas from Muir to describe both a negative and a positive relationship with the natural world. Then, you might construct a negative & positive relation that includes ideas from Haraway. Then, from Kimmerer, you might analyze “The Owner” and “Learning to See” in order to describe a third negative and positive aspect to the relationship. While you may find some similarities across the authors, be sure to also show us the uniqueness of each argument – after all, none of the writers are identical! Finally, you can now demonstrate the major points you have just made through a careful reading of the play, Hurricane Diane.
Parameters:
This essay should include five sources: 1 foundational writer, 1 contemporary writer, 2 essays from Kimmerer, and Hurricane Diane.
This paper should include at least one direct quote from each of the nonfiction sources. You may want more than one quote from Hurricane Diane. Please use MLA citation (parenthetical and works cited).
This essay should be at least 1250 words (about 5 pages), but it may be longer.
Paper submissions can be in the following formats: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .odt, .rtf
The paper is due on Canvas by the end of the day (midnight) on Sunday, April 2nd!
Feel free to email, or visit me during my office hours, or talk to me after class if you have any questions. (see the next page with works cited help!)
Best of Luck!
The Complete Works Cited Page
(copy and paste only the ones the apply to your paper!)
Abram, David. “Turning Inside Out.” The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World. Vintage, 2017.
Austin, Mary Hunter. The Land of Little Rain. 1903. Project Gutenberg, 2016.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. 1849. Project Gutenberg, 2009.
Thoreau, Henry David. “Solitude.” Walden; or, Life in the Woods. 1854. Project Gutenberg, 2018.
Haraway, Donna. “Sympoiesis.” Staying With the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2016, pp. 58-67.
Hay, John. “Dispossession.” The Immortal Wilderness, Norton, 1987.
Hogan, Linda. “What Holds the Water, What Holds the Light.” Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World. Norton, 1995.
Leach, Amy. “The Round Earth Affair.” Things That Are. Milkweed Editions, 2012.
Muir, John. “The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West.” Our National Parks. 1901. Project Gutenberg, 2019.
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. “Arts of Noticing.” The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton University Press, 2015, pp. 16-25.
