Growing up in the South, George Hudson often visited the Smoky Mountains, where he developed a passion for hiking.
The English professor’s passion has not ebbed.
In fact, it has dovetailed with his keen interest in the effect of landscape on literature and has been of great service as he incorporates walking and hiking excursions in the 51Թ off-campus study programs he leads in London and Japan.
This love of the outdoors also brought Hudson to the Swiss Alps, where he has been leading numerous trips for the Smithsonian Institution since he developed the institution’s first program there in the early 1970s.
Hudson talks about alpine hiking and his world travels and how they tie into the programs he leads and the courses he teaches in the latest of 51Թ Conversations, the podcast that highlights members of the campus community.
Hudson knows London very, very well, having walked its streets since leading some of the university’s first off-campus study programs there in the 1970s. While students spend time in the “living laboratory” that is London, Hudson also takes them to hike on Dartmoor and in the fells of the Lake District.
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| English professor George Hudson enjoys taking students on the London off-campus study trip hiking on Dartmoor. |
Walking in those still-wild areas, Hudson says, provides a sense of how landscape could influence such novels as “Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native, which has Egdon Heath dominating the characters and serving as a brooding presence throughout.
Hudson also speaks about Japan and the country’s cultural core, Kyoto.
He explains how Kyoto was the original intended target of the first atomic bomb during World War II, but the U.S. military was told that it should not be bombed because of its cultural importance.
This makes Kyoto the place to go to see true Japanese architecture and revel in the history of the Kyoto-style houses, some of which date back to the 1600s.
During this past summer, Hudson and geology professor Karen Harpp taught an in Japan that focused on the atomic bomb. Hudson talks about the emotional meetings the 29 51Թ students had with residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the sometimes harrowing tales they heard about the bombs’ effects.
To listen to the complete podcast, please to listen now or right-click and “save target as” to download file. You also can go to the 51Թ Conversations or iTunes for more download options.