HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: English

Semester: 2nd Semester

Teaching Languages: English

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Prof. Tzachi Zamir

Coordinator Email: tzachi.zamir@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: TBA

Teaching Staff:
Prof Tzachi Zamir

Course/Module description:
'Ecocriticism' is an approach to representations (literary or other) which is sensitive to the use of the non-human as a way of revealing something about the human. Ecocriticism may also encompass a concern for some sphere of human/nature interface (for example, non-human animals) and how understanding such spheres deepens through literature. The seminar introduces ecocriticism, and its overarching goal is for the students to produce an ecocritical reading.

Course/Module aims:
• Introducing students to a new, exciting, and important approach to literature.
• Getting students to reflect on their own approach to the non-human.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
• To produce a well-crafted ecocritical reading
• To be able to analyse in a theoretically-informed manner practices relating to nature.
• To be able to employ reading practices usually used for the purpose of understanding literary texts, in relation to institutions.

Attendance requirements(%):
100

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Lecture and discussion as well as group work

Course/Module Content:
Topics from the list below and the readings will be selected. Expect changes to the list.

1. Introduction to the course:
Constructing humanity through animals

2. Ethics, animals and literature:
J.M. Coetzee, Elizabeth Costello, "The Philosophers and Animals"

3. Poetry and animals:
a. * J. M. Coetzee, Elizabeth Costello, "The Poets and Animals"
4. Tigers:
a. Rilke, "The Panther"
b. Ted Hughes, "Jaguar"; "A second Glance at a Jaguar", "Tiger Psalm"
c. Adiga Aravind, from White Tiger
d. Amitav Ghosh from The Hungry Tide

5. Zoos:
a. From Marvin & Mulan, Zoo Culture
b. Garnet: A Man in a Zoo
c. Randy Malamud Reading Zoos

6. Animal fables:
a. Tolstoy's short animal stories (available in Hebrew only)
b. Aesop and La Fontaine, The Fox and the Grapes, The Fox and the Crow, The Ant and the Dove, The Lion and the Rat (for Aesop, an e-text, Aesop's Fables by Worthington is available via the library, p. 96; p. 172)

7. Winnie the Pooh:
a. Winnie the Pooh * & The house at Pooh Corner *
b. Woodbine Meadowlark (Crews, F.C.): "A la Recherche du Pooh Perdu"

8. Allegory:
a. Jan Martel, Life of Pi

9. Slaughtering & Killing:
a. Slaughtering turkeys: Tristan Egolf, Lord of the Barnyard
b. Slaughtering cows: Ruth Ozeki My Year of Meats
c. Euthanasia: J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace

10. Science and animals:
a. Mary Shelly, Frankenstein
b. Eileen Christ, Images of Animals
c. Deborah Rudacille, The Scalpel and the Butterfly

11. Dogs (and also, Animals & language):
a. Richard III, opening soliloquy*
b. Virginia Woolf, Flush
c. Jack London, White Fang

12. Horses:
a. Sonnets 50 & 51 by Shakespeare, and Sonnet 49 ("I on my Horse" by Sidney* (Norton Anthology)

13. Insects:
a. Kafka, Metamorphosis*
b. John Donne, "The Flea" (Norton Anthology)
c. "אתה מאבד את הראש, ויסקוביץ", מתוך, אתה חיה, ויסקוביץ, אלסדרו בופה

14. Monsters:
a. Shakespeare, Macbeth act I* & "The Rape of Lucrece"*
b. Aeschylus, Eumenides*

15. Ecopoetics:
a. Gerard, "Positions" from Ecocriticism

16. Natural/artificial/human:
a. Gerard, "Pastoral"
b. Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, IV, iv *



17. Trees:
a. T. Zamir, "Talking Trees", New Literary History, 2011, 42, 439-453.* (available via the library's e-journals)

18. Gardening:
a. Milton's Paradise Lost book 4 & 9* (Norton Anthology)
b. Barbara Lewalski, "Innocence and Experience in Milton's Eden"

Required Reading:
The list below will be updated closer to the course:

• J. M. Coetzee, Elizabeth Costello, PR 9369.3 c58 E44, Chap 3 (pp. 59-90) & Chap 4 (pp. 91-115).
• Ted Hughes, "The Jaguar" & "Second Glance at a Jaguar" & "Tiger Psalm", in Ted Hughes, Selected Poems 1957-1981, PR 6058u37A6, p. 15, p. 72, p. 227-8
• Rilke, "The Panther", an electronic version is available via the library in The Best of Rilke, pp. 68-9
• Amitav Ghosh: The Hungry Tide, pp. 328-331 (uploaded scanned page)*
• Adiga, Aravind, The White Tiger, London: Atlantic Books, PR 9499.4 A35 W45 2008, pp. 276-7
• Garnet David, A Man in a Zoo, pp. 42-71 (not in library). (upload scanned pages)*
• Bob Mullan & Marvin, Zoo Culture, QL 76 M85 1999, pp. 8-30; pp. 122-130
• Randy Malamud, Reading Zoos, HV 4708 M35 1998, pp. 1-46
• La Fontaine, Jean, Fifty More fables of La Fontaine, N. Shapiro trans. PQ 1811 E3 S453, p. 21
• Aesop’s Fables, Worthington, E-text available via library, p. 96; p. 172
• Crews Frederick The Pooh Perplex, PR 6025 I65 W65, pp. 75-86
• Martel, Yann, Life of Pi, PS 8576 A7651 L53 2002להשמיר, לצלם פרק אחרון וקטע מפרק ראשון ו
• Egolf Tristan, Lord of the Barnyard, PS 3555 G37 L67 1999, pp. 127-138
• Ozeki Ruth, My Year of Meats, PS 3565 Z45 M99, pp. 245-284
• J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace, PR 9369.3 C58 D58 1999, Chap. 16, pp. 136-146
• Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, Frankenstein (James Rieger’s edtion), PR 5397 F7 1974, pp.45-58; pp.91-97
• Crist, Eileen, Images of Animals, GR 705 C75, pp. 1-10; pp. 88-95; pp. 168-201
• Rudacille, Deborah, The Scalpel and the Butterfly, 004244287 (עותק בספריה הלאומית), pp. 4-40.
• Virginia Woolf, Flush, PR 6045 O72 F48, Chap. pp. 109-143
• Jack London, White Fang, PS 3523 O46 W54 1920, pp. 27-53; pp. 169-182
• Garrard, Greg, Ecocriticism, PR 143 G37 2004, “Positions”, pp. 16-32
• Garrard, Greg, Ecocriticism, PR 143 G37 2004,”Pastoral”, pp. 33-56
• Lewalski Barbara, “Innocence and Experience in Milton’s Eden”, in New Essays on Paradise Lost, Thomas Kranidas Ed, U of California Press, 1969. Book is unavailable at HUJI, but is available via Bar Ilan. pp. 86-118.*
• מתוך, "אתה חיה ויסקוביץ", PQ 4862 O338 S451 2006 עמ' 26-7
• טולסטוי, לב, סיפורי חיות, מתוך "האם אדמה רבה נחוצה לאדם", PG3367h4a13, עמ' 125-143

Additional Reading Material:
none

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 70 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 5 %
Research project 25 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
The grade will be a combination of a final essay, group work, and an online response.