Dear students,

We have added another elective to the roster for the Fall: ENGL 327 (Environmental Literature) is now open to general enrollment. All English majors and minors who have taken ENGL 170W may register.  Please note that the course will be fully online in the Fall, with most coursework being completed on your own schedule, with face-to-face meetings scheduled at convenient personalized times throughout the semester.  The listed meeting time in CUNYfirst of M/W at 9:15am will no longer apply.  The course will also satisfy the Literature after 1820 elective requirement.

(full disclosure, I'm the instructor, and I'd love to see you in the Fall in the course! I have some great readings and fun digital assignments planned!)

Very best,

Prof. Silyn Roberts

ENGL 327: Environmental Literature

What can literature teach us about climate crisis?  In an era of ecological collapse, how can the humanities – and literary study in particular –  offer imaginative new theories of being, thinking, and social relations in a broken world? How might literary texts help us navigate a long history of what multispecies feminist critic Donna Haraway calls the “unexpected collaborations and combinations” entwining the human species and its environment?  Beginning with the question, “what is ecocriticism?”, this course engages these questions to consider how climate crisis demands revised ways of approaching literature. Specifically, we will work to understand the changing relationship between the natural world and literature in relation to such critical concepts as liberal sovereignty, slave capitalism, biopolitics, deep time, posthumanism, and animal studies.

Dr. Siân Silyn Roberts
Associate Professor of English

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Department of English, Queens College

Klapper Hall 601

Office Hours for Spring 2020: Mon 3:00-4:00pm; Wed 12pm-2pm; and by appointment