"Natures Nation" Revisited: American Concepts of Nature from Wonder to Ecological CrisisTaking their cue from Perry Miller's early definition of America as 'Nature's Nation', the essays collected in this volume offer critical reconsiderations of the manifold ways in which, over time, different concepts of 'nature' have affected US attitudes towards the land Americans have explored, settled, cultivated, exploited and, more recently, also begun to protect. Scholars from Europe and North America approach the topic from a wide range of disciplines -- history, literature, popular culture, religion, social and economic geography, film studies, ethnic studies, philosophy, ethics, gender and sexuality studies, and Native American studies. Conjointly the thirty-five essays re-examine the infinite manifestations of 'nature' in US culture, politics and society, from practices of gardening, strip-mining, farming and urban planning, to forms of environmentalist activism and representations of 'nature' and nationality in literature, film, art and ideology. In addition, they explore the possibilities of newer approaches -- eco-criticism, eco-theology, eco-feminism, 'eco-queer' studies and transnational perspectives -- within the interdisciplinary domain of American studies. |
Contents
PREFACE | 5 |
FROM MONTICELLO VA TO SPRINGWOOD | 81 |
THE CONCEPTION OF NATURE IN THE AMERICAN ROMANTIC | 94 |
Copyright | |
14 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
agricultural alienation Almaden American Studies animals anthropocentric anthropomorphic argues Asian American become body California Cambridge Cather's century Chesuncook Chicago Christian civilization conception of nature contemporary context County crisis critical D.H. Lawrence desert discourse earth Ecocriticism ecofeminism ecological ecotheology Ecotopia Emerson English environment environmental essay ethics European example experience farm farmers female film flood forest frontier garden gender global Gravity's Rainbow Hongo human Hundred Secret Senses idea imagination immigrants James Jefferson Johnstown Flood land landscape Lawrence Buell Leo Marx literature living London Marx Mason & Dixon metaphor mind Moby-Dick modern moral myth narrative Native American natural world Nature's Nation nonhuman novel nuclear Park perspective poem poetry political relationship religion religious river Roosevelt scene Seattle sense social spiritual story swamp symbolic theory Thoreau tradition trees University Press Walden wild wilderness Willa Cather William Wisconsin woman writing York