 | Thoreaus Sense of Place: Essays in American Environmental Writing Subjects: Thoreau Henry David 1817–1862 -- Knowledge -- Natural History; Thoreau Henry David 1817–1862 -- Views on environmental protection; Environmental protection -- United States -- History; Thoreau Henry David 1817–1862 -- Influence; American literature; Recent Thoreau studies have shifted to an emphasis on the green" Thoreau, on Thoreau the environmentalist, rooted firmly in particular places and interacting with particular objects. In the wake of Buell's Environmental Imagination, the nineteen essayists in this challenging volume address the central questions in Thoreau studies today: how "green," how immersed in a sense of place, was Thoreau really, and how has this sense of place affected the tradition of nature writing in America? The contributors to this stimulating collection address the ways in which Thoreau and his successors attempt to cope with the basic epistemological split between perceiver and place inherent in writing about nature; related discussions involve the kinds of discourse most effective for writing about place. They focus on the impact on Thoreau and his successors of culturally constructed assumptions deriving from science, politics, race, gender, history, and literary conventions. Finally, they explore the implications surrounding a writer's appropriation or even exploitation of places and objects. Richard Schneider is professor of English and Slife Professor in the Humanities at Wartburg College. He is the author of Henry David Thoreau in the Twayne United States Authors series and the editor of Approaches to Teaching Thoreau's "Walden" and Other Works. |
