VL Issues in American Literature: Nature and Technology (Summer 2024)

This lecture will introduce students to the significance of "nature" and "technology" as defining features of the American literary and cultural imaginary. Covering a broad selection of literary texts and contexts from the nineteenth century to the present, we will move from romanticist nature writing to techno-utopia, from car culture to science fiction, from the machine in the garden to simulated landscapes and the climate crisis.