Writing for an Endangered World: Literature, Culture, and Environment in the U.S. and Beyond

by Lawrence Buell

The environmental imagination does not stop short at the edge of the woods. Nor should our understanding of it, as Lawrence Buell makes powerfully clear in his new book that aims to reshape the field of literature and environmental studies. Emphasizing the influence of the physical environment on individual and collective perception, his book thus provides the theoretical underpinnings for an ecocriticism now reaching full power, and does so in remarkably clear and concrete ways. Writing for an Endangered World offers a conception of the physical environment--whether built or natural--as simultaneously found and constructed, and treats imaginative representations of it as acts of both discovery and invention. A number of the chapters develop this idea through parallel studies of figures identified with either "natural" or urban John Muir and Jane Addams; Aldo Leopold and William Faulkner; Robinson Jeffers and Theodore Dreiser; Wendell Berry and Gwendolyn Brooks. Focusing on nineteenth- and twentieth-century writers, but ranging freely across national borders, his book reimagines city and country as a single complex landscape.

Genres: Nonfiction, Academia, Sustainability, Essays, Academic

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an informative read, but Buell is very obtuse with his writing. If you decide to read this, expect lots of big words and the occasional ridiculously long sentence. Otherwise, I would recommend this book to someone who already knows the history of American environmentalism. Buell emphasized specific ideas in writing and film on the environment, but does not necessarily place it within certain environmental ideologies or movements in American environmental history. If you are already familiar with the history, then I think you will find this to be a fascinating read. If you're not, then expect to be a little confused, which was the case for me. I'll be revising this review once I have the opportunity to reread this work.

[Adrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Lawrence Buell's work is considered at the forefront of the ecocritical movement he has become a must read. He certainly raises some important points about ecocriticism and shows that there is lots of material worthy of our consideration from this perspective. Naturally he focuses on the United States as this is his area of expertise. However, through this focus he also reveals how little American literature has produced on this front. I will fully admit that I am biased in this point as my area is Latin American and Canadian literature. However, I believe that expanding our views to other literatures will only enrich the ecocritical field and push the ideas into a larger arena which hopefully will help increase the interest of a larger audience.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

"ecocriticism" and "study of literature and evinvironmentalism" . makes for some very dense and not so pretty writing by author buell. but that said, lots and lots of examples of environment/environmentalism/natural history writing by jane addams, leopold, faulkner, delillo, wendell berry, and about 1000 or more other authors/refernces.
perhaps a book for the references rather than buell's insights into the lit of crit.

[Karen Mcgovern · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't tried it in the classroom yet, but it has promise.