Eco-Criticism and Nature Writing .the Trails of the American Approaches

Abstract

Ecocritical attention has primarily focused on nineteenth– and twentieth-century British and American texts, predominantly non-fiction nature writing, and also nature-conscious fiction and poetry. The paper attempts to shed light to a series of puzzling but response-inciting questions regarding the American gendered approaches to nature, and the niche that Ecocriticism occupies in mainstream American Literature. The study is conceived as a merging of theoretical arguments and textual study. The theoretical part attempts to shed light on such issues as: Ecocritical traits and approaches; European vs. American approaches to nature; and Nature and Women's writing .The focus of the textual study are 10 American Nature Writing non-fiction classics and illustrated considerations of the main topics handled in these works. The study seeks to show that though ecocriticism is attempting to break new trails by going through the untrammeled nature-centered works, humans are failing to go within the unchartered depths of their spirit and consciousness. In terms of distinguishing in between the male gendered nature narrative and the female gendered nature narrative, the paper comes to the conclusion that there is a close connection between the systematic undervaluing of women's writing and the exploitation and abuse of the earth. While male nature writers mostly develop themes such as: the austerity of nature and the wish to explore and alter landscapes to suit the "human design"; the idea of hunting for a "trophy"; grandfather wisdom; wilderness and governmental institutions; earth as a religion, female-centered approaches to nature are marked by the occurrence of such themes as: moral –considerability of non-human beings; disapproval of economism; the bond to the land; anthropogenic destructive tendencies; nature/self consciousness. Nevertheless, although male writers fall into the snares of economism and exploring as a way of controlling, they still implicitly share women's consideration of the unbreakable bond to the earth and their awareness of the impactive immediacy to humankind.