I work with very supportive colleagues in the English Department of a New England private high school for girls. I was asked if I might want to teach a senior-level class using some of the texts I am studying for this project. The opportunity is both exciting and not a little bit terrifying.

I am greatly interested in early and contemporary feminist writings, and I would like to write about the topic of marriage as it appears in 20th and 21st-century East Asian Literature. And I have also been excited to come across a significant number of contemporary novels about aging and the aged.

But are these topics of significant interest to college-bound women who are eager to begin meaningful careers in a wide variety of fields that are evolving and coming into creation even as I write this?

Another theme I keep encountering is the expanding gulf between the philosophies and experiences of the people of the country and the inhabitants of the modern city. In addition, many writers are addressing the degradation of the environment and approaching the threat of ongoing climate change in ways that are visionary and hopeful. I am therefore proposing a class about nature and ecological novels, short stories, and essays. A draft of the proposal appears below. Please let me know if you can think of any readings that might suit the focus of the class!

Cherry Blossom and Pine: Ecological Literature in East Asia and the US

The United States and China are by far the greatest polluters in the world.

Each also prides itself on its long tradition of celebrating the beauty of nature in landscape paintings, poetry, and literature. In this class, students will read a variety of literature from 20th and 21st-century writers from the United States, China, Japan, and Korea, looking for common ground in understanding our complex position in the Anthropocene, as we face the reality that our quest for knowledge, power, and profit has altered our relationship with nature in profoundly destructive and possibly irremediable ways. The readings will include writing that is rooted in the thinking of indigenous people, mythological figures, folklore, early indications of alarm from the 20th century, as well as contemporary reflections on technology and the natural world, and science fiction. Readings may include film documentaries, animated features, and the following short stories and novels:

Possible Readings from the US:

Selections from Walden Pond, Or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau

Selections from the poetry of Mary Oliver

Selections from Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,

Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer,  (2013)

Selections from The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature, by J. Drew Latham.

Possible Readings from East Asia:

“Cat Among the Rabbits,” by Lu Xun (China)

“A Comedy of Ducks,” by Lu Xun (China)

“The Distant Sound of Tree Felling,” by Cai Ce-hai (China)

“Submarines,” by Han Song (China)

“Shen Garden,” by Yan Mo (China)

“Iron Child,” by Yan Mo (China)

“The Roses at the Hospital,” by Can Xue (China)

“History,” by Kawabata Yasunari (Japan)

“The Handstand,” by Ogawa Mimei (Japan)

“Letter Found in a Concrete Barrel,” Hayama Yoshiki (Japan)

“The Bears of Nametoko,” by Miyazawa Kenji (Japan)

“Lemon,” by Kajii Motojiro (Japan)

“The Flower Eating Crone” by Enchi Fumiko (Japan)

“Enoki,” by Matsudo Aoko (Japan)

Familiar Things by Hwong Sok-Yong (South Korea)

“Early Beans,” by Ha Seong-Nan (South Korea)

“Identical Apartments,” by Park Wan-Suh (South Korea)

Stingray, by Kim Joo-young

“Make the Ocean Blue” by Cho’e Ryon (North Korea)

The Man With the Compound Eyes, by Wu Ming-Yi (Taiwan)

Waste Tide, by Chen Qiufan (China)


The film documentary Behemoth, by Liang Zhao (China)

“Okja,” by Bong Joon-Ho (Korea)

“Princess Mononoke” by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)