Roads Less Traveled: Literature and Cultures of Northern New England

Is there really a culture unique to northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont)? How has the literature from the region expressed that culture? How true are the myths of a pristine world of small towns, beautiful landscapes, and austere and ironic Yankees? In this seminar we will consider these questions and others through various modes of inquiry (readings, film, visitors to class, trips). We will read literary antecedents (Emerson, Thoreau, Frost) as well as more contemporary treatments that make use of the Yankee archetype in telling their stories (John Irving, Howard Frank Mosher, Ernest Hebert, Carolyn Chute). 3 hrs. sem.