LARTS 346 Wilderness to Wasteland: American Landscape & Identity
Focusing on literature, painting, and photography, this course explores how narratives and images of American landscapes have shaped ideas about national identity. We will examine prominent metaphors for the American landscape - the 'virgin land,' the 'wilderness,' the 'frontier,' the 'sublime,' the 'pastoral,' the 'wasteland' - and investigate their limitations. Looking at race, ethnicity, gender, global economies, and diverse American experiences, we will ask: What is "Americanness"? How are place, nation, and identity related? Which landscapes are seen as "quintessentially American" and which are overlooked?