Uneven Land: Nature and Agriculture in American WritingU of Nebraska Press, 1999年1月1日 - 207 頁 Uneven Land explores the ambiguous conceptual position of agriculture and nature in American literature during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Focusing on the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hamlin Garland, Frank Norris, William Ellsworth Smythe, and Liberty Hyde Bailey, Stephanie L. Sarver reveals a range of views about agriculture, its value to the individual, and its relationship to nature. ø Sarver proposes that agricultural practices require a relationship with nature that is simultaneously material and spiritual as well as economic and social. Emerson interprets the relationship between the farmer and nature in several ways, confirming that the farmer enjoys a privileged connection to nature. Garland and Bailey continue in Emerson?s tradition but present the farmer?s relationship to nature as always compromised by the commercial character of farming. In contrast, Norris and Smythe minimize the individual spiritual experiences of nature in farming. They abstract agrarian land, suggesting that the farm is a stage on which human dramas are enacted. Out of this study emerges a complex picture of America?s uncertain relationship with nature and agriculture. |
常見字詞
agrarian agricul agriculture American West Annixter anthropocentric argues Arid America arid lands Bailey's beauty California century character codling moth Conquest of Arid considers context Crèvecoeur criticism crop culture deep ecology defined Derrick describes desert dimension discussion drama Dyke early earth ecocentric ecology economic efforts enjoy entities environment environmental experience farm farmer fiction figure focus force Frank Norris Hamlin Garland Hilma ideal identifies influence interpretation invokes irrigation Jefferson John de Crèvecoeur labor landscape larger Liberty Hyde Bailey literary literature living Louis Bromfield ment metaphor modern Nature-Study nonetheless nonhuman nature Norris's notion novel observes Octopus philosophical Pizer plants practice Presley railroad Ralph Waldo Emerson ranch ranchers realism realm reclamation reflects region relationship between humans relationship with nature reveals San Joaquin Valley scientific Seven Stars Smythe Smythe's social society spiritual stories symbol tion transformation tree ture understanding Vanamee vision Wendell Berry wheat writing York