The Earth Seemed Unearthly:
Joseph Conrad and the Ecology of World Literature
English Honors Seminar
Autumn 2020
T/Th: 2:30 – 4:20
(Zoom: https://washington.zoom.us/j/7464882779)
Instructor: Jesse Oak Taylor
jot8@uw.edu; 206-747-4818 (cell)
Office Hours: By Appointment*
“The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free.”
--- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
“It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.”
--- Donna Haraway, Staying With the Trouble
*I would love to talk with you, but don’t want to sit around in an empty Zoom room. Please get in touch with me about setting up a time to talk.
Overview: In recent years, scientists have proposed that we are now living in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene concept profoundly alters the story of human history, natural history, and the relationship between them. In this course, we will explore Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a journey into the Anthropocene: a first-hand account of the extractive frontier in which the “conquest of the Earth” is inextricable from racism, violence, and an unsettling complicity that includes the narrative itself. Conrad’s novella is one of the most canonical—and controversial—works of modern literature. As such, it provides a chance to think about how literature both depicts and is entangled with the disruption of the Earth System: how literary world-building is bound up with the unmaking of the Earth.
Our conceptual framework will be drawn from Donna Haraway’s Staying With the Trouble, in which she explains that it matters what stories tell stories, and what stories make worlds. If Heart of Darkness is a journey into the “trouble” of the Anthropocene it is also deeply troubling, an artistic masterpiece whose critique of empire and extraction is plagued by racism and misogyny. Our discussions will focus on what it means to “stay with” such a work, and how we can use it to imagine alternate futures into being. With this in mind, the bulk of our time will be devoted not to Heart of Darkness itself, but rather to a series of more recent works that adapt, respond to, and borrow from it, turning its formal devices, language, plot, and subject matter to their own ends. Heart of Darkness is a story through which Conrad bore witness to what he called the “conquest of the earth.” It is also a story many writers, artists, and filmmakers have used to tell stories: about war, colonization, and extinction. This course is an attempt to think through those two things simultaneously, asking how this unsettling narrative can help us stay with the trouble of our own moment even as we work to bring new worlds into being.
Assignments: As a seminar, this course will consist primarily of discussion. Assignments will be designed to help you think about what features of the readings are most useful to you moving forward, and which you would like to leave behind. They will also allow you to explore different voices and work across media. Especially given the limited library access, there will not be an expansive research paper at the end of the term. Instead, we will pursue two interlinked projects of short writings and photographs, coupled with excerpts from the texts we are engaging. These will be shared portfolio-style at the end of the term. My hope is that this will not only help you think creatively and expansively about the material in this course, but also prove useful as you begin to conceptualize these theses you will write in Spring Quarter.
Anthropocene Backpack
The first of these projects is the “Anthropocene Backpack” – a commonplace book or collection of quotes, images, ideas, forms, tools that you want to take into the Anthropocene. Modeled on Usula Le Guin’s idea of the “carrier bag theory of fiction,” in which the writer collects snippets of story like seeds in the bag they carry with them to distribute when needed. The assignment version is modeled on the Springer & Turpin collection The Word For World Is Still Forest, itself riffing on Le Guin’s novella The Word for World Is Forest, both of which we will be reading. For this assignment, I will similarly ask you to choose a single quote, line, or image from one of the texts we’re engaging to serve as your title, and then curate a collection of snippets from the course (and beyond it), with commentary from you about how/why you think they are useful. Be creative! Think about different forms. It might be a collage, a series of excerpts, a video essay, photo essay, or a literal backpack filled with supplies. If you prefer, you could describe it as an Anthropocene Spellbook, Survival Kit, or “Greatest Hits of the Holocene” Album. Whatever “carrier bag” you want to take with you into the Anthropocene.
In preparation for this assignment, each week I will ask you to select at least one thing you want to add to your backpack, with a brief statement of why. If you prefer, you are also welcome to talk about things you want to leave behind. After all, every act of selection is also an act of deletion: to separate the selection from its original context and decide what to exclude. These will be posted on the Canvas discussion board, so that we can share ideas and build community within the course. However, if at any time you want to keep a week’s selection private that is also fine. This is a personal journey, and it’s OK to have a few secrets.
These selections will be posted on Canvas in weekly discussion threads. Unless otherwise indicated, they will be due on Fridays by 9PM.
What Does the Anthropocene Look Like?
This course is not only about the readings: it is also about the world. That is, the actual world in which we live. With that in mind, I will also ask you to take (or make) a picture with a short essay accompanying it in response to the question: “What Does Anthropocene Look Like?”. Modeled on Smudge Studio’s “Geologic Time Viewer,” this assignment will ask you to take a photo with your phone (you can also make a recording, draw a picture, or use some other medium/device), and write one substantial paragraph on how/why that serves as an image of the Anthropocene. Think both about what it includes, and what it excludes. At the end of the term, we will have a create gallery of these images as a class. My hope is that this process will help you think about the process of selection, and framing while also helping you think about the relationship between your reading and your inhabitation of the world around you.
While you only have to submit one, I encourage you to practice throughout the term. Hence, you can submit images/recordings, etc., to the discussion board in lieu of a reading response in any week(s) you choose.
Readings: As befits an honors seminar, this is a reading intensive course. I don’t expect that anyone will read everything included here, especially given the many demands on your time. Please begin with the novels and/or films, and then dip into the supplemental readings as you are able. Part of my goal here is to help you begin a bibliography for your own research if you want to pursue a thesis on any of the topics covered in this seminar.
Primary texts listed below have been ordered to the University Bookstore, and are available for purchase elsewhere. You are welcome to use any other editions you may possess, but if you’re buying them for the course I recommend the ones listed here.
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer. Signet. 1902/2002. ISBN: 9780451531032
Peter Kuper, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (Graphic Novel) Norton. 2019.
ISBN: 978-0-393-35843-8
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word For World is Forest. Tor. 1972/2010. ISBN: 978-0765324641
Mayra Montero, In the Palm of Darkness. Harper. 1995. ISBN: 978-0060929060*
*If you’re able, please feel free to read the original Spanish version, Tu, La Obscuridad.
Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide. Mariner. 2004. ISBN: 978-0618711666
Helon Habila, Oil on Water. Norton. 2010. ISBN: 978-0393339642
Jeff VanderMeer, Annhilation. Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux. 2014. ISBN: 9780374104092
Nisi Shawl, Everfair. Tor. 2016. ISBN: 978-0765338068
Yedda Morrison, Darkness. Make Now Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0981596242
Films are listed here, along with suggestions for where to access them. Please note: streaming services update constantly. If a film isn’t available for streaming for a reasonable fee at the time it is scheduled, we will drop it. Please let me know if you have difficulties.
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018) [iTunes]
King Leopold’s Ghost (2006) [Amazon, iTunes]
Fitzcarraldo (1982) [tubi]
Apocalypse Now Redux (1979/2001) [YouTube, iTunes]
Roar: The Tigers of the Sundarbans (2014) [Amazon]
Virunga (2014) [Netflix]
Spec Ops: The Line (2012) [Game available on Steam, walk throughs viewable on YouTube]
Black Panther (2018) [YouTube]
Supplemental Readings will be available as PDFs on Canvas. May are also available as e-resources through the library, or freely available online. They are listed here for reference:
Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene
Ursula Le Guin, “Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”
Jason Moore, Capitalism in the Web of Life
Sylvia Wynter, “An Unparalleled Catastrophe for Our Species?”
Jeffrey Mathes McCarthy, “A Choice of Nightmares: The Ecology of Heart of Darkness”
Robert Pogue Harrison, from Forests: The Shadow of Civilization
Maya Jasanoff, from The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World
Jennifer Wenzel, from The Disposition of Nature: Environmental Crisis and World Literature
Cajetan Iheka, from Naturalizing Africa: Ecological Violence, Agency, and Postcolonial Resistance in African Literature
Rob Nixon, from Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Ursula Heise, from Imagining Extinction: The Cultural Meanings of Endangered Species
Elizabeth Kolbert, from The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
Richard Conniff, “Big Cat Comeback: How India is Restoring its Tiger Population”
Carl Safina, “Psychic Numbing: Keeping Hope Alive in a World of Extinctions”
Jedediah Purdy, from After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene
Ed Kashi, “Curse of the Black Gold: Fifty Years of Oil in the Niger Delta” (photos)
Eduardo Kohn, from How Forests Think: Towards an Anthropology Beyond the Human
Anna-Sophie Springer & Etienne Turpin, Eds, The Word for World is Still Forest
Anna Tsing, “Unruly Edges” & excerpts from Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection
Anna Tsing, et al, from Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene
Participation: A seminar is a collaborative enterprise. While online discussion can be challenging, this is a small enough class that we should be able to do it. Thus, I expect you to attend (most) sessions, and be prepared to talk, posing questions, and responding thoughtfully and respectfully both to me and to your fellow students. I also expect you to either have your video on, or to post a clearly legible headshot of yourself on your Zoom profile. Kids, pets, plants, partners, and other creatures are welcome to make appearances as needed.
I realize that technology can be challenging, and glitches will arise. We’ll work through them together. If you end up having persistent issues that make synchronous participation especially challenging, please be in touch with me and we will work out other ways for you to participate.
While I recognize that you may not be able to complete all of the reading, I do expect you to do a substantial amount of it, and have something tangible and specific to say. Because this is a small, discussion based course, you must speak up in class. Similarly, in order for everyone’s voices to be heard, you must not dominate the discussion. If you feel excluded or marginalized by class discussions, please come talk with me about it. I am committed to fostering a classroom environment in which any idea or perspective can be discussed, and in which all participants are respected. To that end, we will adhere to the English Department’s statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (posted below).
Given that we will be sharing writing, including experimental writing in forms that may be new to us, it is vital that we be generous with one another. This spirit also extends to the published works that we will be reading. Academic discourse often operates through critique. My hope is that we can find other ways of engaging with this material, focusing on what it does rather than dialing in on its shortcomings.
Nothing generates discussion better than questions. If you are confused by something in the reading, aren’t sure what a word means (or who a theorist is), please ask. This is doubly important given that we are reading criticism about works that we are not reading together as a class. I guarantee you that no one in the room (me included) fully understands all of these readings. Nor will any of us have read every book discussed by every critic. We will rely on one another for guidance. To that end, a final stipulation: no name dropping. If you want to bring up a critic, theorist, or work of literature that isn’t on the syllabus please be prepared to explain it, such that the idea is available to the group as a whole.
Disabilities & Accommodations: I want this class to be inclusive for everyone. If you have a disability or any other issue that needs to be accommodated, please ask. If there are circumstances in your life that are pressing on your ability to participate in the course, please tell me. This is particularly important given the field-based component of some assignments and course meetings. If there are reasons why going outside, up and down stairs, or simply getting to different parts of the city will be difficult for you, please be in touch. We’ll work something out.
Departmental Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
The UW English Department aims to help students become more incisive thinkers, effective communicators, and imaginative writers by acknowledging that language and its use are powerful and hold the potential to empower individuals and communities; to provide the means to engage in meaningful conversation and collaboration across differences and with those with whom we disagree; and to offer methods for exploring, understanding, problem solving, and responding to the many pressing collective issues we face in our world--skills that align with and support the University of Washington’s mission to educate “a diverse student body to become responsible global citizens and future leaders through a challenging learning environment informed by cutting-edge scholarship.”
As a department, we begin with the conviction that language and texts play crucial roles in the constitution of cultures and communities, past, present, and future. Our disciplinary commitments to the study of language, literature, and culture require of us a willingness to engage openly and critically with questions of power and difference. As such, in our teaching, service, and scholarship we frequently initiate and encourage conversations about topics such as race, immigration, gender, sexuality, class, indigeneity, and colonialisms. These topics are fundamental to the inquiry we pursue. We are proud of this fact, and we are committed to creating an environment in which our faculty and students can do so confidently and securely, knowing that they have the backing of the department.
Towards that aim, we value the inherent dignity and uniqueness of individuals and communities. We acknowledge that our university is located on the shared lands and waters of the Coast Salish peoples. We aspire to be a place where human rights are respected and where any of us can seek support. This includes people of all ethnicities, faiths, gender identities, national and indigenous origins, political views, and citizenship status; nontheists; LGBQTIA+; those with disabilities; veterans; and anyone who has been targeted, abused, or disenfranchised.
Grade Breakdown:
Participation: 25%
Weekly Discussion Board Posts: 25%
What Does the Anthropocene Look Like?: 15%
Anthropocene Backpack: 35%
Schedule:
Week 1:
Th. 10.1 Conrad, Heart of Darkness (pt. 1) / The Anthropocene (film)
Supplemental: Haraway, from Staying with the Trouble; Moore, from Capitalism in the Web of Life; Le Guin, “Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”; Tsing “Unruly Edges”; “Welcome to the Anthropocene” (short film); Wynter, “An Unparalleled Catastrophe for Our Species?”
Week 2:
T. 10.6: Conrad, Heart of Darkness (finish)
Th. 10.8: Kuper, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (graphic novel)
Supplemental: King Leopold’s Ghost (film); Harrison, from Forests; Jasanoff, from The Dawn Watch; McCarthy, “A Choice of Nightmares”; Taylor, “Wilderness After Nature”
Week 3:
T. 10.13: Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest
Th. 10.15: Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest
Supplemental: Apocalypse Now Redux (film)/ Springer & Turpin, The Word for World is Still Forest (Introduction, where they lay out the project, and anything else that strikes your fancy. Note interview with Eduardo Kohn, who is on the syllabus in Week 5.)
Week 4:
T. 10.20: Fitzcarraldo (film) / Montero, In the Palm of Darkness
Supplemental: Burden of Dreams (film)
Th. 10.22: Montero, In the Palm of Darkness
Supplemental: Heise, from Imagining Extinction; Kolbert, from The Sixth Extinction
Week 5:
T. 10.27: Ghosh, The Hungry Tide
Supplemental: Nixon, from Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Th. 10.29: Ghosh, The Hungry Tide
Supplemental: Kohn, from How Forests Think; See also interview with Kohn in The Word for World is Still Forest / Roar: The Tigers of the Sundarbans (film)
Week 6:
T. 11.3 Ghosh, The Hungry Tide / (ELECTION DAY!!! Get your ballot to a box!)
Supplemental: Purdy, from After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene
Th. 11.5 The Hungry Tide, read through “Interrogations”
Week 7:
T. 11.10: Ghosh, The Hungry Tide; Ghosh, from The Great Derangement
Supplemental: Virunga (Film) / Conniff, “Big Cat Comeback”; Safina, “Psychic Numbing”
Th. 11.12: Habila, Oil on Water / “The Curse of the Black Gold” (photo essay)
Supplemental: Moore, from Capitalism in the Web of Life, Nixon, from Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Week 8:
T. 11.17: Habila, Oil on Water
Supplemental: Wenzel, from The Disposition of Nature; Iheka, from Naturalizing Africa
Th. 11.19: Spec Ops: The Line (video game – play or watch on YouTube) / Pitts “Don’t Be a Hero” / Morrison, “Darkness”
Supplemental: Beasts of the Southern Wild (film)
Week 9:
T. 11.17: Feral Atlas (https://feralatlas.supdigital.org)
Supplemental: Wynter, “An Unparalleled Catastrophe for Our Species?” / Haraway, from Staying with the Trouble
Th. 11.19 THANKSGIVING – NO CLASS
Week 10:
T. 12.1: Workshop / Keywords Discussion / Backpack Packing
Th. 12.3: Workshop / Keywords Discussion / Backpack Packing
Week 11:
Tues. Dec 15: 4:30 – 6:20 (exam slot): Presentations (Poll if normal class time works instead)