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Writing Nature

Module description

In this module, you will develop your own approach to nature writing. You will research and discuss published fiction and creative nonfiction (including memoir, biography and literary journalism) to uncover historical and recent advances to our literary understanding of nature. Experimental (hybrid) forms of ecocriticism will be encouraged through writing exercises and workshopping each other’s nature writing in a supportive manner. Topics/themes will range from climate change to the metaphoric role of animals in literature. Your individual writing skills—including narrative structure, voice, character and thematic meaning—will lead to the creation of emerging hybrid forms within the context of the Humanities. This module offers eleven weeks of 3-hour seminars and three 30-min individual supervisory sessions to help guide and direct your independent study. Teaching sessions take the form of ‘workshops’ in which your written work is shared in a supportive and constructive peer review format. During discussion of published work and one-to-one supervisions, you will be expected to have made serious preparation beforehand. Seminars, workshops and supervisions are designed to reinforce and extend your skills as thinkers, writers and researchers.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to guide you toward understanding and contributing to the increasingly wide-ranging umbrella of nature writing. Fiction and creative nonfiction, both in English and in translation, will be used as models toward a broad knowledge of various components of the form. Through seminars and workshops, self-directed study, practical exercises and discussion, the module will develop your awareness and understanding of textual hybrid forms, content, and style. You will also gain an enhanced appreciation of the processes involved in writing more broadly, including drafting, revising, editing, developing ideas, and publishing toward a particular audience.  

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the technical qualities of long form fiction and creative nonfiction - including narrative structures, voice, character and the role of conflict – in the depiction of nature and the environment and with a particular emphasis on hybrid forms.
• 2. Demonstrate a capacity for independent study and self-directed inquiry and research, and to implement both imaginative and critical abilities through the completion of a portfolio of nature-based creative work and accompanying reflective commentary.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Demonstrate an advanced appreciation of the formal techniques and imaginative expression within fiction and creative nonfiction – and in particular, to apply these techniques in your own approaches.
• 4. Demonstrate an advanced ability to produce pieces of creative writing in agreement with specified forms and genres taught on the module.
• 5. Present in seminars persuasive oral arguments concerning forms of writing by your peers and by published authors.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of a variety of theoretical positions and articulate a broad range of appropriate critical and professional terminology; and through sustained independent work, demonstrate the ability to produce advanced forms of nature writing together with more broad-based creative writing skills.
• 7. Listen and respond to professional guidance and feedback from peers.

Syllabus plan

You will be in the third year of your programme, when you have a general overview of Humanities studies and its various contexts. The writing project will be the result of many forms of experimentation during the term based on field observations, research toward the accumulation of relevant source materials and the testing out of various hybrids between fiction and research including interventions toward ecocriticism. The syllabus plan could include the following key areas of reading and discussion:

Theoretical BackgroundsofEcocriticism

Farms and Farming

Animals and their Representations

The Gendering of Nature and Ecofeminism

Utopia/Dystopia

Cosmological Schemata

Deep Ecology and Radical Environmentalism

The Uncanny and the Super-natural

The Nature of Outer Space

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Garrard, Gregory (Ed). Ecocriticism. New York: Routledge, 2012.
• Griffin, Susan. Woman and Nature:The Roaring Inside Her. New York: Counterpoint, 2016.
• Altan, Ahmet. I Will Never See the World Again. New York: Other Press, 2019.

Key words search

Creative writing, ecocriticism, nature writing, creative nonfiction