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The Ecocriticism Reader

Landmarks in Literary Ecology

Harold Fromm editor Cheryll Glotfelty editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of Georgia Press

Published:1st May '96

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The Ecocriticism Reader cover

The Ecocriticism Reader is the first collection of its kind, an anthology of classic and cutting-edge writings in the rapidly emerging field of literary ecology. Exploring the relationship between literature and the physical environment, literary ecology is the study of the ways that writing both reflects and influences our interactions with the natural world.

An introduction to the field as well as a source book, The Ecocriticism Reader defines ecological literary discourse and sketches its development over the past quarter-century. The twenty-five selections in this volume, a mixture of reprinted and original essays, look backward to origins and forward to trends and provide generally appealing and lucidly written examples of the range of ecological approaches to literature. Lists of recommended readings, relevant periodicals, and professional organizations offer direction for further study.

The Ecocriticism Reader is an illuminating entree into a field of study fully engaged with our most pressing contemporary problem—the global environmental crisis.

A powerfully conceived, intelligently constructed collection of essays. I can imagine few critical anthologies that will have such a wide appeal. It comes at just the right moment and will find a substantial and appreciative audience.


If you are wondering what ecocriticism is, how it has evolved, why it is important to literary studies, or how to do it, you must read this book. . . . Whether you are a teacher, scholar, theorist, reader, explorer, or enthusiast of literature and nature, you will be stimulated and challenged by the journey these essays lead you on.


A welcome theoretical contribution to the study of how literature can make us beter students of the environment and of our responsibilities toward it.

* North Dakota Quarterly *

A scholarly book in the best sense of the word—it will fire off connection after connection in your mind.

* Stonecrop *

A major step toward organizing the field and bringing literary studies into closer contact with what is generally recognized as a contemporary crisis. . . . A tremendous accomplishment.

* Canadian Review of Comparative Literature *

Provides the basis for any future discussion of ‘ecocriticism.’ It is a milestone in the emergence of the discipline.

* Western American Literature *

Informative and insightful . . . Because the essays in this text are accessible yet provocative, it not only serves as a sourcebook for ecocritics and those reading about literature, but would also function well as a text in a wide range of undergraduate or graduate classrooms.

* South Atlantic Revi

ISBN: 9780820317816

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 31mm

Weight: 590g

456 pages