In “Flight Behavior,” Kingsolver tries to reconcile southern fundamentalism with an environmental consciousness.
Tag Archives: Flight Behavior
God’s Wonders in Appalachia
Nature Lit Has Healed for Centuries
For years my Intro to Lit class has had a nature theme.
Kingsolver Explains Climate Denial
Rush Limbaugh has been calling Hurricanes Harvey and Irma liberal conspiracies. In “Flight Behavior,” Barbara Kingsolver shows the dangerous impact of such pronouncements.
To Save Planet, Scientists Must Protest
Saturday’s March for Science is a sign that scientists are realizing they don’t have the luxury of remaining aloof from politics. Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” explores the issue.
Teaching Euripides in the Age of Title IX
Recently a student reported me for using sexist language in the classroom. (This while teaching a Kingsolver novel and Euripides’s “The Bacchae.”) The language did not reflect my own views, but the complaint made me realize that I need to be more careful with this generation of students.
Using Lit to Discover Purpose in Science
My Intro to Literature students, few of whom are English majors, are often startled to discover that literature understands them better than they understand themselves. Today’s post describes the encounters between two science majors and, respectively, Wordsworth’s “Intimations of Immortality” and Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior.”
A Talk with a Cli-Fi Activist
Dan Bloom, inventor of the term cli-fi for climate fiction, tirelessly advocates for such fiction, regarding it as indispensable in the struggle to save the human race. I interview him in today’s blog.
Monarchs & Ezekiel’s Burning Coals of Fire
Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” shows us Baptists farmers, not normally friends of environmentalists, turning to religious language to save the environment.
The Peace of Wild Things
My Intro to Literature class explored how a disconnect from nature leads to existential anguish while opening themselves up to nature provides spiritual nourishment.