The arc of the tradition of natural writing begins with the Puritans and rises through Transcendentalism (via Emerson and Thoreau), Muir’s ecological version of “natural religion”, then comes around in the 20th century to an appreciation of Asian traditions and Native American traditions in people like Barry Lopez, Richard Nelson, and Gary Snyder. This lecture will deal with the religious questions and themes that the natural writers have been drawn to.

 

 

 John Tallmadge is a nature writer, consultant, and independent scholar based in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Educated at Dartmouth (A.B., 1969) and Yale (Ph.D., 1977), he taught in the English departments at the University of Utah and Carleton College before joining the Union Institute in 1987 as Associate Dean of the Graduate School, working with adult professionals on individualized Ph.D. programs.  He left Union in 2005 to enter private practice.

 

Dr. Tallmadge is the author of two memoirs, Meeting the Tree of Life: a Teacher’s Path (University of Utah Press, 1997) and The Cincinnati Arch: Learning from Nature in the City (University of Georgia Press, 2004), plus an edited volume of ecocritical essays, Reading Under the Sign of Nature (University of Utah Press, 2000).  He is a series editor for “Under the Sign of Nature: Explorations in Ecocriticism”  published by the University of Virginia Press.  In addition to numerous articles, essays, and reviews in both scholarly and general circulation periodicals, including ISLE, Michigan Quarterly Review,  Victorian Studies, Environmental Ethics, Audubon, Orion, Utne Reader, and the New York Times Book Review, he has contributed chapters to books on nature writing, outdoor pedagogy, nature and manhood, place-based education, ecocriticism, and teaching environmental literature.  A pioneer in the emerging fields of ecocriticism and outdoor pedagogy for the humanities, he has served as President of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) and as a founding director of both the Natural History Network and the Orion Society.  His work has been featured on NPR, PBS, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

 

该讲座使用语言为英文。欢迎各院系感兴趣的教师和研究生参加，同时也欢迎校外师生踊跃参加！