Ecocritical Explorations in Literary and Cultural Studies Fences, Boundaries, and Fields

by Murphy, Patrick D.

• ISBN13: 9780739131749
• ISBN10: 0739131745
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-26
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

In Ecocritical Explorations, Patrick D. Murphy explores environmental literature and environmental cultural issues through both theoretical and applied criticism. He engages with the concepts of referentiality, simplicity, the nation state, and virtual reality in the first section of the book, and then goes on to interrogate these issues in contemporary environmental literature, both American and international. He concludes his argument with a discussion of the larger frames of family dynamics and un-natural disasters, such as hurricanes and global warming, ending with a chapter on the integration of scholarship and pedagogy in the classroom, with reference to his own teaching experiences. Murphy's study provides a wide ranging discussion of contemporary literature and cultural phenomena through the lens of ecological literary criticism, giving attention to both theoretical issues and applied critiques. In particular, he looks at popular literary genres, such as mystery and science fiction, as well as actual disasters and disaster scenarios. Ecocritical Explorations in Literary and Cultural Studies is a timely contribution to ecological literary criticism and an insightful look into how we represent our relationship with the environment.

Author Biography

Patrick D. Murphy is professor of English at the University of Central Florida.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction: The Four Elements and the Recovery of Referentiality in Ecocriticism	p. 1
Climbing Through Conceptual Fences
The Complexity of Simplicity	p. 17
Difference and Responsibility in Literary Alternatives to the Nation-State	p. 33
Paradise or a Pair of Dice: Contradictions and Contingencies in Real and Virtual Terrains for Tomorrow's College Students	p. 47
Toward Transnational Ecocritical Theory: The Example of Hwa Yol Jung	p. 63
Surveying the Boundaries of Genre
Nature in the Contemporary American Novel	p. 79
The Non-alibi of Alien Scapes: Science Fiction and Ecocriticism	p. 89
The Non-alibi of Pragmatic Utopianism and Wild Variability; or, Optimistic Variations on a Science Fiction Theme	p. 109
Mysteries of Nature and Environmental Justice	p. 119
Culturally Crossing the Field
Nature-Nurturing Fathers in a World Beyond Our Control	p. 147
Scenarios of Disaster: Crying Wolf, Scaring Away the Elephants, and Heading 'Em off at the Pass	p. 163
Hurricanes and Hubris: American Responses in Literature and Culture to Natural Weather Extremes and Their Human-Driven Intensifications	p. 173
Ranging Widely in the Classroom	p. 185
Bibliography	p. 193
Index	p. 209
About the Author	p. 217
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