Premised on the belief that a social and an ecological agenda are compatible, this collection offers readings in the ecology of left and radical writing from the Romantic period to the present. It explores the interactive vision of nature and society in the work of writers ranging from William Wordsworth and John Clare to John Burnside.
Premised on the belief that a social and an ecological agenda are compatible, this collection offers readings in the ecology of left and radical writing from the Romantic period to the present. In historicizing and connecting environmentally sensitive literature with socialist thought, these essays explore the interactive vision of nature and society in the work of writers ranging from William Wordsworth and John Clare to John Berger and John Burnside.
'If it is to gain further acceptance, the new discipline of ecocriticism must produce sustained and serious literary criticism. This collection of richly literary-critical essays shows the way by combining left-leaning ('red') and ecological ('green') concerns. The relevance of these concerns to our present historical situation is repeatedly illuminated by penetrating analyses of literary reflections upon ecology. This is a compelling read for anyone alert to literature and the environment.' Gabriel Egan, De Montfort University, UK 'Ecology and the Literature of the British Left [...] is a stimulating introduction to its subject and a foundation for further ecocritical studies.' Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment '...full of fresh thinking which anyone interested in writing's capacity to envision afresh the social and environmental worlds should read.' The British Society for Literature and Science 'The collection is competently edited and provides well-researched essays that offer unique insights into important philosophical fields. The sixteen essays that constitute this volume cover a wide range of authors, from William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge to such late-twentieth-century authors as George Mackay Brown and Alasdair Gray. In so doing, the book offers more than two centuries' worth of evidence that the Red and the Green-the leftist and the ecocritical viewpoints-are intertwined.' BARS Review
