Walking in the Anthropocene
Professor: Juda Bennett
Meetings: Monday 3:30-6:20pm
So many great writers—Wordsworth, Thoreau, Dickens—were avid walkers and hikers, and many great works of literature—both ancient and contemporary—are structured upon quests, pilgrimages, or journeys. How does life in the anthropocene–our period of time that is so marked by the impact of humans on ecosystems—effect our representations of walking. Focused on how contemporary writers respond to life in times of environmental degradation, this course will consider literary representations of walking, hiking, pilgrimaging, parading, and trudging through the scarred landscape.