Sense of Place in American Literature

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

For the last five centuries, American literatures have reflected diverse and changing relationships between people and their environment. Scholars in human geography and other fields call this a sense of place, our "sixth sense." In some instances, sense of place is so strong, so deeply imbued with meaning, that it becomes a part of individual or cultural identity, such as one's childhood home, famous historical landmarks, fictional landscapes, and even Notre Dame's campus. This course explores the many ways American writers have represented senses of place—and senses of being displaced, or of placelessness—in literary prose. What does it mean to belong to a place? How does connection to place impact specific literary traditions? What is our responsibility to place, and how might notions of place help us understand diverse people and cultures? We'll consider these questions throughout the term in class discussions and in formal papers, and students will explore their own sense of place in regular informal writing assignments.