Representations of Nature in Literature

Poetry & Prose

Fiction & Nonfiction

 

• While stereotypes are dangerous, it can be helpful to note general patterns. Certain messages do predominate in different areas and eras. 

 

• There are different histories in different countries regarding the representation of nature in literature. 

 

• Is there a recurring message in American literature today?

          Hypothesis: Nature has positive relationships with the "good guys" and negative ones with the "bad guys." 

 

Define Eco-criticism:

A method of analyzing the way people represent or portray nature in literature. Scholars use this method specifically for Western Literature (Garrard 61).

 

Disney Princess Eco-criticism

 

Can you find a pattern? 

 

There is a pervading idea in Western literature that nature will side with the "good guys." 

 

 

Jasmine and Rajah

 

Aladdin and Rajah

 

Snow White

 

The Witch in Snow White 

 

 

History of English Children's Literature (by Short, Lynch-Brown, and Tomlinson):

 

U.S. Multicultural Literature (177)

 

One of the hot topics of today is racism. Recently literature from minorities and others wishing to address the issue has had opportunity to show itself. First appearances are in 1930's.

 

Children's Informational Literature (155)

 

1657- "first known work of nonfiction for children"

 

International Children's Literature (182)

 

1719- adult stories adapted for children in England

 

Children's Poetry (83)

 

1744- Children's Poetry starts in England

 

Children's Traditional Literature (99)

 

1894- "popularize folk literature and made them accessible to children"

 

 

 

 

Three books I studied had a strong correlation between the natural world and individuals who faced discrimination because of their race or social standing. 

 

1.)

 

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind- Autobiography, prose (Author William Kamkwamba is Malawian)

 

2.)

 

The Surrender Tree- Historical fiction, poetry (Author Margarita Engle is Cuban American)

 

3.)

 

Holes- Fiction, prose  (Author Louis Sachar is Jewish American)

 

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind 

 

• Limits of eco-criticism (Chengyi Coral Wu)
• Western influence  (Bryan Mealer)

 

Where does The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind fall?

• Modern era children's lit.  

 

The Surrender Tree

 

History of environmental literature in the Latin and South American World (Boling)

 

• Colonial period brought ideas of conquest, conquering nature 
• Coming out of this era, the literature shifted to reflection of the nearby people's states

 

Where does Surrender Tree fall?

• Modern era children's lit.  

 

 

Holes

 

Anglo-American literary History

 

Animals side with the "good guys." Why? 

 

• Going "green" (Guignard)
• Didactic lessons with animals 
• Co-habitation with nature

 

Where does Holes fall?

• Modern era children's lit.   

 

 

 

Children’s Books	Positive Thoughts toward Nature	Negative Thoughts toward Nature
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind	The wind provides inspiration.    Best friend was a dog.	The wind almost blows the windmill beyond control.   No rain means a famine.
Surrender Tree	Weather and wilderness protect Rosa and her companions.   Rosa is friendly toward a horse and dogs. (119)   The honeybees save her.   She learns to heal using the surrounding vegetation.   Creatures seem to laugh at Lt. Death	"refugees flocking like birds, lost in a storm" (91)   "Parasites... lice" (95)   "lives are caves filled with secrets" (97)   "flames of war" (119)   "war is a serpents" (127)
Holes	A special mountain appeals to the protagonist.   The peaches and onions provide substantial food.	The sun is oppressively hot.   The mountain is steep.    The lizards are lethal.

 

Other Works
Poetry of Andrea Zanzotto (1921-2011) Poems in 1951,1973, & 1999	The birds have a similar plight to the cohabiting community of people.	Natural disasters represent the the ruling politics.
Palm of Darkness	Nature is reflecting the conditions of the people.	People are struggling to survive.

 

 

Theory: Nature does not always help the hero or heroine. Nature sometimes harms the good people in a story or reflects the conditions of the evil. Nevertheless, the "good guys" themselves can identify with or feel a connection to at least one aspect of nature. 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Armbruster, Karla. “Nature Writing.” Keywords for Environmental Studies, edited by Joni 

Adamson et al., NYU Press, 2016, pp. 156–158. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt15zc5kw.52.14 March 2019. 

Bailes, Melissa. Questioning Nature: British Women's Scientific Writing and Literary

Originality, 1750-1830. University of Virginia Press, 2017. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1mkbdgn. 14 March 2019.

Benvegnừ, Damiano. “‘Birds Who Speak My Dialect’: Poetry, Birds, and Landscape in Andrea 

Zanzotto.” Italy and the Environmental Humanities: Landscapes, Natures, Ecologies, edited by Serenella Iovino et al., University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, London, 2018, pp. 37–46. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2204q7x.7. 14 March 2019.

Boling, Becky. "The trope of nature in Latin American literature: some examples." Studies in 

     Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature, vol. 30, no. 2, 2006, p. 245+. Literature Resource      Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A162620669/LitRC?u=vic_bluefield&sid=LitRC&xid=c

           9426204. 15 March 2019.

Wu, Chengyi Coral. "Towards an Ecocriticism in Africa: Literary Aesthetics in African Environmental Literature." Natures of Africa: Ecocriticism and           Animal Studies in Contemporary Cultural Forms, edited by F. Fiona Moolla, Wits University Press, Johannesburg, 2016, pp. 141–165. JSTOR,           www.jstor.org/stable/10.18772/22016069131.10. 

Echterling, Clare. “Postcolonial Ecocriticism, Classic Children's Literature, and the Imperial-Environmental Imagination in ‘The Chronicles of            Narnia.’” The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, vol. 49, no. 1, 2016, pp. 93–117. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44134678.

Engle, Margarita. The Surrender Tree. New York: Square Fish, 2008. 

Garrard, Greg. “Ecocriticism.” Keywords for Environmental Studies, edited by Joni Adamson et al., NYU Press, 2016, pp. 61–64. JSTOR,           www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt15zc5kw.24.

Guignard, James and T. P. Murphy. Literature, Writing, and the Natural World. Cambridge 

Scholars Publishing. 2009. JSTOR, www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/59459. 14 March 2019.

Kamkwamba, William and Bryan Mealer. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Illustrated by

          Anna Hymas. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2015.  

Maillet, Greg. “Fear, Friendship, and Delight: The Appeal of Animals in the Children’s Poetry of 

          Dennis Lee.” Other Selves: Animals in the Canadian Literary Imagination, edited by Janice Fiamengo, University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa, Ontario,           2007, pp. 245–266. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1ckpcbx.15. 15 March 2019.

Sachar, Louis. Holes. New York: Yearling, 1998.  

Short, Kathy, Carol Lynch-Brown, and Carl Tomlinson. Essentials of Children’s Literature. 9th ed. New York: Pearson Ed. Inc., 2018.