The Concept of Nature in Early Modern English Literature

Description

The Concept of Nature in Early Modern English Literature traces a genealogy of ecology in seventeenth-century literature and natural philosophy through the development of the protoecological concept of 'the oeconomy of nature'. Founded in 1644 by Kenelm Digby, this concept was subsequently employed by a number of theologians, physicians, and natural philosophers to conceptualize nature as an interdependent system. Focusing on the middle decades of the seventeenth century, Peter Remien examines how Samuel Gott, Walter Charleton, Robert Boyle, Samuel Collins, and Thomas Burnet formed the oeconomy of nature. Remien also shows how literary authors Ben Jonson, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Margaret Cavendish, and John Milton use the discourse of oeconomy to explore the contours of humankind's relationship with the natural world. This book participates in an intellectual history of the science of ecology while prompting a re-evaluation of how we understand the relationship between literature and ecology in the early modern period.

Peter Remien is an Associate Professor of English at Lewis-Clark State College, Idaho. His teaching and scholarship focuses on early modern English literature, with particular attention to economic and environmental approaches. His articles have appeared in a number of journals including Modern Philology, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Studies in Philology, the Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, Spenser Studies, and PMLA.