Animals in American Literature and Culture

The seminar was a miniature panorama of iconic animals in American literature and culture from the 19th century onward. On the basis of selected works, the changing
relationship between animals and humans was investigated and literary texts in the contexts of Animal Studies and current ecocritical issues were analyzed. Animal portrayals were read against the respective
backdrops of romanticism, naturalism, and modernism, exploring romantic/naturalist portrayals of “wild,” “free,” “beastly,” and “monstrous” animals in contrast to modernist portrayals of tame,” “farm,” and “domesticated” animals. More recent fiction increasingly reflecting issues of bio-diversity loss, species extinction, and other animal-related ecological predicaments and crises,
but also options fir constructive proposals to ensure multispecies conviviality were examined. Literary depictions and narratives of “companion” animals, humananimal hybrids and symbioses, and up-to-theminute strategies such as “rewilding” that will in crucial ways hark back to early 19th century aesthetic strategies were discussed.

Now, on the basis of this given information, a 6-page long essay should be written on this topic. It can focus on any aspect of it (veganism, philosophical, animal rights, beast vs. human, etc.) Sources/Quotations ought be clearly marked as such: author + PAGE NUMBER (!!!), Havard quotation style

Please do not use the following works as the basis for the essay as they were already used in class and hence are ineligible for the essay topic:

– when species meet (haraway)
– the call of the wild (london)
– the trouble with wilderness (cronon)
– flight behavior (kingsolver)
– stayinv with the trouble (haraway)
– simian cinema (bishop)
– the jungle (sinclair)
– walden or life in woods (thoreau)
– the overstory (powers)
– bewilderment (powers)
– the animals that therefore i am (derrida)
– edgar huntly or memories of a sleep-walker (brochden brown)
– narrative of arthur gordon, pyn, the black cat, the raven (edgar allen poe)
– moby-dick or the whale (melville)

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