
Autobiography, Ecology, and the Well-Placed Self : The Growth of Natural Biography in Contemporary American Life Writing.
Title:
Autobiography, Ecology, and the Well-Placed Self : The Growth of Natural Biography in Contemporary American Life Writing.
Author:
Straight, Nathan.
ISBN:
9781453908013
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (172 pages)
Series:
Modern American Literature ; v.59
Modern American Literature
Contents:
TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments ix -- ONE - "Who are we? where are we?": Self and Place in Dialogue 1 -- TWO - Bearings from a Broken Center: William Kittredge's Great Basin Reckonings 29 -- THREE - Something in the Water: Terry Tempest Williams' Fluid Subjectivity 55 -- FOUR - Pieced Together: Mary Clearman Blew's Collective Identity 85 -- FIVE - Trading in the Telescope: Diverse Narratives of the Well-Placed Self 119 -- Appendix: Selected Readings in Natural Biography 131 -- Notes 135 -- Bibliography 143 -- Index 149.
Abstract:
Autobiography, Ecology, and the Well-Placed Self expands the field of autobiography studies by describing an emergent genre, natural biography, that embeds the human subject in a more-than-human world. Through an ecocritical analysis of three contemporary U.S. authors - William Kittredge, Terry Tempest Williams, and Mary Clearman Blew - Nathan Straight illustrates how ecologically situated life writing bridges the human/nature divide and responds to the pressing environmental and communal demands of our times. In his exploration of the well-placed self he challenges traditional concepts of the autobiographical subject and considers new models of selfhood in relation to regional and national identities. His illuminating discussions of specific texts engage with ecofeminist and bioregional theory and will appeal to readers in environmental studies, literary criticism, and American regionalism. Autobiography, Ecology, and the Well-Placed Self presents an important new perspective on place-based identity and literature, and the inclusion of a Selected Readings appendix makes it a valuable resource for scholars and students alike.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
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