Reading the trail: Exploring the literature and natural history of the California Crest (Mary Austin, John Muir, Gary Snyder)

In this dissertation, I explore the work of three iconic, California authors---Mary Austin, John Muir, and Gary Snyder---and the California landscape itself. I investigate each author's relationship to the regions in which they write, and demonstrate methods for incorporating field-based instruction into the study of their work. I contend that through linking environmental texts with their extra-textual environments we will come to a better understanding of each author's work, and deepen our appreciation of the regions about which they write. I also argue that by adding experiential, service-based components to environmental literature curricula, we can support tighter connections between university campuses and their surrounding communities, while offering our students the opportunity to apply their work in significant and real-world situations.; Each chapter is divided into two sections: the first explores field-based ecocritical approaches to each author, while the second demonstrates how to use that author's work in environmental education curriculum In Chapter One, I introduce readers to the work of each author and the goals and methods of ecocriticism and environmental education. In Chapter Two, I explore the problematics of representation in nature writing, and how Mary Austin's work can be used to alter students' aesthetic perceptions of arid landscapes. In Chapter Three, I investigate John Muir's compositional process, and demonstrate how field journaling assignments can be used in environmental education programs. In Chapter Four, I show how field-based scholarship can be used to interpret Gary Snyder's poetry, and how his work applies to teaching bioregional literacy. In Chapter Five, I explore the activist efforts of each author and develop four strategies for engaging students in the practices required to respond to the current environmental crisis.