This course looks at how Henry David Thoreau’s seminal 19th-century text Walden has stimulated contemporary movements and phenomena related to cabins and a simplified lifestyle. We will start out by closely examining Walden and then look at other cabins in American literature and culture as well as at movements and trends like van life, cabin porn, and cottage core. Aside from establishing how these phenomena draw on Walden, we will look at their specific characteristics and aesthetics.
Books to be bought and read: Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. All other texts will be provided on Moodle. |
