Presented by the 2007-2008
Queens College English Honors Class
The English Honors program is composed of four central tasks. First, students take an intensive seminar focusing on a significant aspect of or approach to English and American literature. The subject of the seminar changes every year. Second, students write an original, scholarly paper having to do with the specific theme that the program embraced that year. Third, honors students take a comprehensive examination on English and American literature, and, fourth, students create and stage the English honors conference. Though each student has written a paper, time does not allow for every student to present their paper. However, other responsibilities, such as organizational and technical tasks, involve considerable creativity. Every student is expected to execute his or her part of the plan in order that the academic presentation achieves optimum success.
This year`s theme is ecocriticism or viewing literature through the lens of an ecologically-informed observer. The program is a blend of different media. It is set in motion with a video photo display of images of nature and mankind`s interactions with different environments. The rich images, set to music, are designed to draw the audience in and to create a sense of wonder and curiosity in relation to what will follow.
Blog entries were a constant in the lives of honor students for two semesters. They were used to respond to a remarkable diversity of questions raised about our culture and its many relationships to the environment. Selections from the blogs are used to create a stunning presentation.
Literary presentations begin with a panel entitled “Nature Writing”: it offers diverse subjects as “Optical Democracy,” “Nature Traditions in American Society” and “Animals and Ethics.” These are edited forms of honors papers that focus on aspects of each student’s work.
A dramatic reading follows with selections from The Tempest and Frankenstein--selections that reflect the thoughts and themes from an honors paper on the Limits of Power. Ecofeminism is then the subject of a second panel session. Ecofemininsm provides a way of understanding first environmental apocalypse and second contemporary theater.
A third panel session follows: “Early Religion & the Origin of Ecocrisis” and “War as an Environmental Problem.” The first examines society at an early stage of thought; the second takes us up to the present, highlighting the thoughtlessness toward our environment that exists when war is prevalent.
Finally, the conference closes with brief comments about and a video created to explore the possibilities of a postbiological and posthuman future for our planet.
Honors in English
Students with a good academic record and a high degree of commitment to the study of literature are invited to enter the English Honors Program. The program provides an opportunity to have an enriched undergraduate experience with closer access to faculty members and to other Honors students and to graduate from the College with departmental honors. To qualify for admission, students must have English and College grade-point averages of 3.3 and obtain the recommendation of a faculty member in a literature course in English beyond the 100 level. Interested students should meet with the honors adviser to discuss the program as early as possible in their college careers.