Lay of the Land: Metaphor as Experience and History in American Life and Letters

by Annette Kolodny

An original and highly unusual psycholinguistic study of American literature and culture from 1584 to 1860, this volume focuses on the metaphor of 'land-as-woman.' It is the first systematic documentation of the recurrent responses to the American continent as a feminine entity (as Mother, as Virgin, as Temptress, as the Ravished), and it is also the first systematic inquiry into the metaphor's implications for the current ecological crisis.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Literary Criticism, Nature, Feminism, 20th Century, Environment

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Annette Kolodny was a feminist literary critic and activist.

Reviews

[Rebecca Cantor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I certainly need to go back through this book slowly at some point. I really enjoyed Kolodny's ecofeminist approach to our relationship with America (as land and nature). As she says, “Colonization brought with it an inevitable paradox: the success of settlement depended on the ability to master the land, transforming the virgin territories into something else—a farm, a village, a road, a canal, a railway, a mine, a factory, a city, and finally, an urban nation.”

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was required reading for a graduate studies course. One of the few "assigned" readings that I found enjoyable. I still reference this book on occasion.

[Sarah Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eco-fem Qweeenn

[alcapote_]

"In chapter 2, "Surveying the Virgin Land: The Documents of Exploration and Colonization, 1500–1740", the comparison of the land to an untouched, virginal paradise begins the exploration. Chapter 3, "Laying Waste Her Fields of Plenty: The Eighteenth Century", discusses the romanticized agrarian and pastoral ideals that coloured the view of America, especially in its comparisons to ideal lands like Elysium and Arcadia, and the consequences that arose from such ideals, such as the exploitation and alteration of the land." (Wikipedia)

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful writing and well researched text that investigates the masculine as "son" and "lover" and the implications of feminizing the land/nature as "Mother," "Virgin," and "lover."

[Jessica DeWitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a seminal work and is useful for historians largely because of its introduction. Kolodny traces the way in which the land was feminized in American literature and why this line of metaphors was useful to early Americans. The body of the text is also interesting, but the details are likely more relevant for those coming from an ecocritism background.

[Rickie Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

absolutely fascinating but oof grad level theory is a doozy

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

annette kolodny, be still my heart.