Elevated Fictions: Literatures and Cultures of the Mountains

What is it about an elevated landscape that so captures the human imagination? In different parts of the world, mountains have been the abodes of the gods, sites of reverent reflection, and projections of human desire for advancement and conquest. Through comparative examination of academic, literary, and visual texts from around the world, we will explore why mountain landscapes have drawn humans to reflect their spirit into and onto this particular topographical feature of nature. Authors will include Immanuel Kant, P.B. Shelley, William Wordsworth, Milarepa, Premendra Mitra, Edwidge Dandicat, Robert MacFarlane, and John Elder. (This course satisfies the ENAM elective credit).