Pacific Northwest History and Literature

During Summer Quarter 2007, you can take courses in the literature and history of the Pacific Northwest that will feature visits by prominent writers associated with the region.  Sign up for either Pacific Northwest Literature (ENGL 457—5 credits) or Writing the Region: A Documentary History of Pacific Northwest Identity (HSTAA 433—5 credits), and you will meet and talk with the following writers about their work and the significance of the Northwest:

Marilynne Robinson
(author of Housekeeping and the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Gilead)

Heather McHugh
(UW poet, essayist, and translator)

Richard White
(Stanford historian of the American West)

Debra Magpie Earling
(novelist and professor of Native American Studies, Univ. of Montana)

Kim Barnes
(memoirist and novelist, University of Idaho)

Robert Wrigley
(poet and essayist, University of Idaho)

In addition to the class sessions, students will also attend readings by the above writers, and see, in Seattle’s ACT Theatre, David Wagoner’s play “First Class” about the influential teaching of renowned poet and UW professor Theodore Roethke.

ENGL 457 will focus on literary texts by historical and contemporary writers associated with the Pacific Northwest.  It will be taught by Professor Dan Lamberton, Director of the Humanities Division, Walla Walla College.  HSTAA 433 will examine the emergence of regional identity through diverse texts, beginning with Native stories and tracing different phases of development.  It will be taught by Professor John Findlay, UW History Department. 

The English and History courses will meet together and share most of the same readings, but have different assignments.  By arrangement, students may opt to enroll for more than one course.  HSTAA 433 fulfills the Pacific Northwest history requirement for secondary-school teachers.

The classes will begin June 26 and end August 16.  They’ll meet Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9:40 to 11:20 a.m., and for the afternoon talks by the featured writers.

Course Schedule

A Sense of Where We Are, Summer 2007 Speakers

UW Summer Quarter