the human age - stony brook university · technology of the human age. with a focus on fiction,...

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Professor Michael Tondre Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Fall 2017 The Human Age Imagining Planetary Pasts and Futures EGL 130.02 HUMANITIES 3016 TuTh 11:30AM - 12:50PM Scientists have christened the past three hundred years as the Anthropocene, also sometimes termed “the human age”: an era in which humankind has fundamentally shaped the Earth’s geological condition, altering its established ecologies and conventions of living. This intro-level course explores the literature, science, and technology of the human age. With a focus on fiction, graphic novels, poetry, and film, we will ask questions like the following: in what sense have historical writers anticipated present struggles concerning energy, pollution, and climate change? And how present writers worked to conceive of alternative pasts and futures? To what extent has the ancient theme of catastrophe assumed a new life in the human age? Through these questions, we will learn to think deeply about the traffic between scientific and non-scientific knowledge. No prior experience assumed. Required Texts: 0198707517 Wells, H.G. The Time Machine. Ed. Roger Luckhurst. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2017. 0141196424 Shiel, M.P. The Purple Cloud. Ed. John Sutherland. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. 0143112260 Sinclair, Upton. Oil! New York: Penguin, 2007. 0385721676 Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor, 2004. Other texts available as excerpts on Blackboard (BB): http://blackboard.stonybrook.edu Learning Outcomes: • By combining spirited class discussion with a progressive series of writing assignments, we will learn to read closely with attention to nuances of language, content, and form. • We will learn to compose focused, organized, and persuasive analytical essays; the essays will use standardized English prose in a clear and convincing fashion, and may incorporate feedback from your professor.

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Page 1: The Human Age - Stony Brook University · technology of the human age. With a focus on fiction, graphic novels, poetry, and film, ... Th, 9/14 Stephen Jay Gould, from Time’s Arrow,

Professor Michael Tondre

Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Fall 2017

The Human Age

Imagining Planetary Pasts and Futures

EGL 130.02

HUMANITIES 3016

TuTh 11:30AM - 12:50PM

Scientists have christened the past three hundred years as the Anthropocene, also sometimes termed “the human age”: an era in which humankind has fundamentally shaped the Earth’s geological condition, altering its established ecologies and conventions of living. This intro-level course explores the literature, science, and technology of the human age. With a focus on fiction, graphic novels, poetry, and film, we will ask questions like the following: in what sense have historical writers anticipated present struggles concerning energy, pollution, and climate change? And how present writers worked to conceive of alternative pasts and futures? To what extent has the ancient theme of catastrophe assumed a new life in the human age? Through these questions, we will learn to think deeply about the traffic between scientific and non-scientific knowledge. No prior experience assumed.

Required Texts:

0198707517 Wells, H.G. The Time Machine. Ed. Roger Luckhurst. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2017. 0141196424 Shiel, M.P. The Purple Cloud. Ed. John Sutherland. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. 0143112260 Sinclair, Upton. Oil! New York: Penguin, 2007. 0385721676 Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor, 2004.

Other texts available as excerpts on Blackboard (BB):

http://blackboard.stonybrook.edu

Learning Outcomes:

• By combining spirited class discussion with a progressive series of writing assignments, we will learn to

read closely with attention to nuances of language, content, and form.

• We will learn to compose focused, organized, and persuasive analytical essays; the essays will use standardized English prose in a clear and convincing fashion, and may incorporate feedback from your professor.

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• After an introduction to available archives and academic databases, we will discover how to locate, evaluate, synthesize and incorporate relevant primary and secondary source materials into thesis-driven writing of increasing length and sophistication. The assignments will proceed from informal short responses and blog posts to a longer term paper. (Please consult the “Assignment List” below for full descriptions.) • We will gain familiarity with the conventions of literary study, including literary terms, genres, and devices—particularly, for this course, the conventions of lyric poetry, fiction, and non-fiction prose. But we will also learn to grasp how those conventions help to structure seemingly non-literary texts, including scientific studies and reviews. • We will develop skills in discussing and listening to other perspectives. These skills include asking productive questions and articulating ideas with nuance, clarity, and tact. • Through speaking, writing, and the use of digital media, we will learn how to communicate complex ideas clearly. In addition to formal writing assignments, students will take turns leading class discussion and contributing to our daily course blog (which may include audio, visual, and video-based elements alongside traditional text-based platforms). • We will develop knowledge of a broad range of literature with an understanding of how texts emerge from, respond to, and in turn shape historical and cultural contexts. Namely, we will learn to see how ideas about human-induced planetary change developed out of a common culture of ideas including writers of fiction, philosophers, poets, and scientists in Britain and North America. • We will apply concepts and tools drawn from English studies in order to understand the links between science, technology, and the humanities.

• We will learn to combine quantitative and technical information in geology and related fields to make informed judgments about the traffic between science and the humanities. • Will will learn to craft an deliver an oral presentation of 10-15 minutes, using relevant media, for a substantial part of the course grade.

DSS assistance:

If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your course

work, please contact Disability Support Services at (631) 632-6748 or

http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/dss/. They will determine with you what accommodations are

necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.

Students who require assistance during emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their needs

with their professors and Disability Support Services. For procedures and information go to the

following website:

http://www.sunysb.edu/ehs/fire/disabilities.shtml

Grade Breakdown:

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I. Participation (30%) Discussion and Attendance: 15% Oral Presentation: 5% Course Blog 10% total (5% each) II. Exams: (20%)

Midterm: 20%

III. Writing: (50%)

Two Short Responses (2-3 pages) 20% total (10% each)

Essay (4-5 pages): 30%

Participation:

Regular attendance and participation in will be instrumental to your experience in the class. Please

come prepared to talk actively about the texts. If you miss three or more classes, your final grade will

be lowered. No excuses will be accepted for missing class; however, exceptions will be made for

medical reasons with a note from your physician or counselor indicating your medical reason.

Group Presentation:

Once this term, you will collaborate in a 10-15 minute group presentation with three or four of your colleagues in class. A sign-up sheet, with dates, will be distributed in the first few weeks of the term. Think of your presentation as an opportunity to teach the class and to facilitate discussion. You should focus on analyzing one or more of the texts we’ve read for your chosen date. As part of your discussion, you can provide any background elements that will enhance our understanding of the text (e.g., author’s biography, historical period, or culture). You might relate the text back to others that we’ve encountered, so as to tie your presentation to ongoing questions, concerns, and issues that the class has worked to address. You need to conclude the presentation with at least one strong question for the class that will allow us to discuss the text in relation to your presentation. Note: before your presentation, the class will not discuss the ending of the text. Therefore, you should include, as central to your presentation, attention to the ending (and perhaps a question about it). Leading discussion with the course blog:

Most of our classes will begin with a written response to the day’s reading on our blog. Each student

should plan to compose one response to the day’s reading this term (of approximately 150 – 300

words in length), and should be prepared to talk about the questions, issues, or ideas in the response.

In addition, you will also respond to one post from one of your colleagues in class.

You will receive an email invitation to the blog within the first week of the term. The blog lives on

Blackboard:

http://blackboard.stonybrook.edu

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Your scheduled posts should appear at least 24 hours before class. We’ll use the response to lead

discussion. Be sure that your response deals with a specific passage or passages in the text. Your

post might examine the language or style of the reading in relation to others that we’ve had. It might

pose a question or conundrum: something that stands out as curious or puzzling. It might address a

character or concept that you find most intense and meaningful in the reading. I will take into

account the quality and effort you put into your post when factoring the grade.

Please note that, while you are not required to add additional posts or comments/responses to your

classmates’ blog posts, these contributions can be one way to gain participation in the course, and

will enhance your ability to read, think, and write about the texts.

Midterm:

There will be a midterm on the date noted in the schedule. The midterm will consist of definitions,

passage identifications, short responses, and/or an essay-length response. A more detailed

description will follow in class.

Two Short Responses:

Two responses of two-to-three pages each. These assignments are intended to prompt critical

thinking and analysis of specific texts and core questions in the class. The responses should be

clearly written, concise, and above all original in its claims. An assignment sheet will be circulated

closer to the first due date.

Essay:

A four-to-five page analytical paper. The essay will develop an argument-driven thesis supported

through a close interpretation of particular passages and structural aspects of a text from our

readings. A full assignment sheet with possible prompts will be distributed in class.

Academic integrity:

Plagiarism on one assignment may result in an F for the entire course. University guidelines on

dealing with plagiarism will be followed. Although I encourage you to read websites, articles, and

books about the course material, you must be careful to avoid plagiarism in your papers and

midterm exam. Plagiarism means the use of others’ ideas and words without clearly acknowledging

the source of that information.

Plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, is considered academic dishonesty and all instances will be

reported to the Academic Judiciary. To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use

another person’s idea, opinion, or theory; any facts or any other pieces of information that are not

common knowledge; quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or paraphrase

of another person’s spoken or written words. Citing all sources and putting direct quotations in

quotation marks are required. For further information on the policies regarding academic

dishonesty see below:

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http://ws.cc.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/

Course etiquette:

Please turn off electronic devices before class. Laptops, cellphones, and other technologies are

prohibited during class meetings. If you must leave lecture early, please make appropriate

arrangements in advance. Inattentiveness during discussion may affect your grade negatively.

Course Schedule:

________________________________________________________________________

Week 1: Planetary Subjects: Science, Fiction, and Geologies of the Human

T 8/29 Introduction, course mechanic, key concepts

Th 8/31 Crutzen, “Geology of Mankind” (BB)

J.M.W. Turner, “Rain Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway” (available

online https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-

rain-steam-and-speed-the-great-western-railway)

Squarzoni, from Climate Changed (38-70) (BB)

_______________________________________________________________________

Week 2: Science in/and Fiction

T, 9/5 Labor day (observed): no class

Th, 9/7 Jan Zalasiewicz, “Prologue” and “Perspective,” The Earth After Us: What Legacy will

Humans Leave in the Rocks? (BB)

The Time Machine (pp. 1-39, through chapter seven)

________________________________________________________________________

Week 3: Scientific Romance and the end of the World

T, 9/12 H.G. Wells, The Time Machine (40-end)

Wells, “The Extinction of Mankind” (BB)

Th, 9/14 Stephen Jay Gould, from Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle (BB)

John Ruskin, “The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century” (BB) Charles Dickens, from Hard Times (BB)

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_____________________________________________________________________ Week 4: Victorian Anthropocene

.

T, 9/19 Shiel, The Purple Cloud (1-45)

Marsh, from Man and Nature (BB)

SHORT RESPONSE I DUE AT START OF CLASS; HARD COPY ONLY

Th, 9/21 Shiel, The Purple Cloud (45-101)

Nixon, from Slow Violence

________________________________________________________________________

Week 5 Victorian Anthropocene II

T, 9/26 Shiel, The Purple Cloud (101-180)

Th, 9/28 Shiel, The Purple Cloud (180-216)

Raymond Williams, from “Ideas of Nature” (BB)

GROUP PRESENTATION I

___________________________________________________________________ Week 6 Energy’s Past and Present

T, 10/3 Shiel, The Purple Cloud (216-end) Th, 10/5 Sinclair, Oil! (1-50, through chapter two) ___________________________________________________________________ Week 7 Naturalism and Political Satire

T, 10/10 SHORT RESPONSE II DUE AT START OF CLASS; HARD COPY ONLY Sinclair, Oil! (51-164, through chapter six) Th, 10/12 Sinclair, Oil! (165-217, through chapter eight) _____________________________________________________________________ Week 8:

T, 10/17 Sinclair, Oil! (218-315, through chapter twelve) Malm, “The Anthropocene Myth” (BB)

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Th, 10/19 Sinclair, Oil! (316-376, through chapter fourteen) ____________________________________________________________________ Week 9 Naturalism and Political Satire II

T, 10/24 Sinclair, Oil! (377-478, through chapter eighteen) Th, 10/26 Sinclair, Oil! (479-end)

GROUP PRESENTATION II

________________________________________________________________________

Week 10 Naturalism and Political Satire III

T, 10/31 MIDTERM (NO NEED TO BRING BLUE BOOKS)

Th, 11/2 Atwood, Ornyx and Crake (1-48, through chapter three)

_______________________________________________________________________

Week 11 Speculative Futures

T, 11/7 Atwood, Ornyx and Crake (49-146, through chapter six)

Th, 11/9 Atwood, Ornyx and Crake (147-198, up to “Wolvogs”)

________________________________________________________________________

Week 12 Speculative Futures II

T, 11/14 Atwood, Ornyx and Crake (199-300, up to “Paradice”) Th, 11/16 Atwood, Ornyx and Crake (301-348, through chapter thirteen) ________________________________________________________________________

Week 13 THANKSGIVING BREAK

T, 11/21 NO CLASS

Th, 11/23 NO CLASS

____________________________________________________________________

Week 14 Speculative Futures III

T, 11/28 Atwood, Ornyx and Crake (349-end)

GROUP PRESENTATION III

Th, 11/30 In-class draft workshop (please bring three hard copies of your work)

_______________________________________________________________________ Week 15 Energy, the Humanities, and Energy Humanities

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T, 12/5 ESSAY DUE AT START OF CLASS; HARD COPY ONLY

Italo Calvino, “The Petrol Pump” (BB)

Dickinson, The Polymers, part one (BB)

Klein, from This Changes Everything (BB)

TH, 12/7 Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (BB)

Baudelaire, from Flowers of Evil (BB)

Dickinson, The Polymers, part two (BB)

GROUP PRESENTATION IV

_____________________________________________________________________________