Ecocritical explorations in literary and cultural studies : fences, boundaries, and fields /

The founding editor of journal ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies in Language and the Environment, 1993), Murphy (Univ. of Central Florida) is an important leader in the field of ecocriticism. In his earlier work, both edited and authored, Murphy blazed new trails in reading about and teaching the environment in English literature class. Here he continues his impassioned investigation of the presentation of nature in literature and campaigns for the importance "one anothering" (instead of "othering"). Dividing his book into three parts that build on the images of the subtitle (fences, boundaries, and fields), Murphy offers a baseline exploration of the complexities of ecocritical theory, the nature of place in diverse literary genres, and interdisciplinary possibilities of English literary studies. This a necessary, updated record of the study of literature and the environment and the concomitant exigencies of reconsidering how humans inhabit the earth. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates. L. L. Johnson Lewis & Clark College