Nature and Literary Studies

Description

Nature and Literary Studies supplies a broad and accessible overview of one of the most important and contested keywords in modern literary studies. Drawing together the work of leading scholars of a variety of critical approaches, historical periods, and cultural traditions, the book examines nature's philosophical, theological, and scientific origins in literature, as well as how literary representations of this concept evolved in response to colonialism, industrialization, and new forms of scientific knowledge. Surveying nature's diverse applications in twenty-first-century literary studies and critical theory, the volume seeks to reconcile nature's ideological baggage with its fundamental role in fostering appreciation of nonhuman being and agency. Including chapters on wilderness, pastoral, gender studies, critical race theory, and digital literature, the book is a key resource for students and professors seeking to understand nature's role in the environmental humanities.

Peter Remien is an Associate Professor of English at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho. His recent book The Concept of Nature in Early Modern English Literature (2019), published by Cambridge University Press, traces a genealogy of ecology in seventeenth-century literature and natural philosophy. Scott Slovic is University Distinguished Professor of Environmental Humanities at the University of Idaho. He was the founding president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment and edited the journal ISLE for twenty-five years. His many books include Seeking Awareness in American Nature Writing (1992) and The Routledge Handbook of Ecocriticism and Environmental Communication (2019).