Early Modern Literature and Ecocriticism

Course Objective
After passing this course, you will:

- be able to close read early modern literary texts;

- be familiar with the fundamentals of (historical) ecocriticism;

- be able to analyze literary texts from an ecocritical perspective;

- be able to present your analysis in a brief essay.

Course Content
In this course, we will explore the role of literature in changing relations with the natural environment in the early modern period (1550-1700). Even if we associate topics like air pollution, land grabbing, or the stripping of natural resources more readily with our current time frame, such environmental issues were encountered already in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

We will be reading early modern literature and analyzing visual sources from the perspective of ecocriticism, exploring how early modern texts and images represented and shaped the relation between humans and non-human others.

Teaching Methods
2 hours lecture, 2 hours seminar per week

Type of Assessment
The final grade for this course is based on participation in the seminars, Canvas assignments (50%), and a final exam (50%). You need to have a pass grade (5.5 or higher) for your final exam in order to pass the course.

Remarks 
The seminars require your active participation; attendance in the course seminars is therefore compulsory. If you are absent at more than 3 seminars (20%), you cannot pass the course. Exceptions may be made in grave personal circumstances. Make sure to inform both your lecturer and the academic advisor in such cases.