Walking in the Land of Many Gods: Remembering Sacred Reason in Contemporary Environmental Literature

by A. James Wohlpart

Overview

How are we placed on Earth? What is our relationship to the world around us, and how< does our thinking affect the way we relate to the world? We are entrapped, says A. James Wohlpart, by what Martin Heidegger calls "enframing," a worldview that considers all objects as mere resources for our use. Walking in the Land of Many Gods envisions a new way of thinking about the world, one grounded in a moral imagination reconnected to Earth.

Insightful readings of three contemporary classics of nature writing—Janisse Ray's Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Terry Tempest Williams's Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, and Linda Hogan's Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World—are at the heart of Wohlpart's endeavor. Powerful and affecting works like these reveal a pathway to a deeper remembering, one that reconnects us with the primal forces of creation and acknowledges the sacredness of the world.

We have forgotten that the world around us is rich and fertile and generative, says Wohlpart. His exploration of these literary works, based on deep anthropology and Native American philosophy, opens a pathway into a new way of thinking called sacred reason. Founded on interdependence and interrelationship, and on care and compassion, sacred reason reminds us that divinity exists around us at all times. We are invited to walk, once again, in a land filled with many gods.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820345246
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

A. JAMES WOHLPART is a professor of English and dean of Undergraduate Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University. He is coeditor, with Peter Blaze Corcoran, of A Voice for Earth: American Writers Respond to the Earth Charter (Georgia), and coeditor, with Susan Cerulean and Janisse Ray, of Unspoiled: Writers Speak for Florida's Coast.

A. JAMES WOHLPART is a professor of English and dean of Undergraduate Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University. He is coeditor, with Peter Blaze Corcoran, of A Voice for Earth: American Writers Respond to the Earth Charter (Georgia), and coeditor, with Susan Cerulean and Janisse Ray, of Unspoiled: Writers Speak for Florida's Coast.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

A Note on Documentation xiii

Chapter One
Introduction
A Mind of Sky and Thunder and Sun 1

Chapter Two
Remembering Deep Space and Deep Time
Heidegger, the Pleistocene, and Native American Philosophy 12

Chapter Three
Restor(y)ing the Self
Ecological Restoration in Janisse Ray’s Ecology of a Cracker Childhood 47

Chapter Four
The Long Migration Home
Listening to Birds in Terry Tempest Williams’s Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place 86

Chapter Five
Healing the Severed Trust
Linda Hogan’s Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World as Native Ceremony 127

Chapter Six
Walking in the Land of Many Gods
Remembering the Mysterious Plenitude of Earth 172

Notes 181
Bibliography 195
Index 201

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A lucid, large-spirited study of environmental literature that contributes directly to a central issue in contemporary ecocriticism: how to understand humanity's fundamental connectedness to the world. Wohlpart embraces this conundrum with eloquence, optimism, and an enthusiastic sense of mystery."—Scott Slovic, editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment

"With compassion and love—emee'ih eh ah'moo'oh nhiyah in the Acoma Pueblo language—we are within sacred reason when we sincerely and fully participate in the ecology of life, that is, the organic forces of nature, Jim Wohlpart observes in Walking in the Land of Many Gods. And he confirms and affirms this teaching by the questioning yet insightful articulation offered by Linda Hogan, Terry Tempest Williams, and Janisse Ray to help us realize it is possible to attain beneficial communion with sacred Mother Earth. And with some help from Martin Heidegger also. Thank you—Dawaa-eh—for the knowledge!"—Simon J. Ortiz, Acoma Pueblo author of Woven Stone, Out There Somewhere, and From Sand Creek

“An innovative ecocritical study, Walking in the Land of Many Gods makes a real contribution to our understanding of contemporary environmental literature and of our current environmental situation. Wohlpart articulates an alternative view of the human place in the world, suggesting ways we can live richer and more ecologically sustainable lives.”—Philip Cafaro, author of Thoreau's Living Ethics: "Walden" and the Pursuit of Virtue

Editorial Reviews

With compassion and love—emee'ih eh ah'moo'oh nhiyah in the Acoma Pueblo language—we are within sacred reason when we sincerely and fully participate in the ecology of life, that is, the organic forces of nature, Jim Wohlpart observes in Walking in the Land of Many Gods. And he confirms and affirms this teaching by the questioning yet insightful articulation offered by Linda Hogan, Terry Tempest Williams, and Janisse Ray to help us realize it is possible to attain beneficial communion with sacred Mother Earth. And with some help from Martin Heidegger also. Thank you—Dawaa-eh—for the knowledge!

Acoma Pueblo author of Woven Stone, Out There Somewhere, and From Sand Creek - Simon J. Ortiz

"A lucid, large-spirited study of environmental literature that contributes directly to a central issue in contemporary ecocriticism: how to understand humanity's fundamental connectedness to the world. Wohlpart embraces this conundrum with eloquence, optimism, and an enthusiastic sense of mystery."—Scott Slovic, editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment

"With compassion and love—emee'ih eh ah'moo'oh nhiyah in the Acoma Pueblo language—we are within sacred reason when we sincerely and fully participate in the ecology of life, that is, the organic forces of nature, Jim Wohlpart observes in Walking in the Land of Many Gods. And he confirms and affirms this teaching by the questioning yet insightful articulation offered by Linda Hogan, Terry Tempest Williams, and Janisse Ray to help us realize it is possible to attain beneficial communion with sacred Mother Earth. And with some help from Martin Heidegger also. Thank you—Dawaa-eh—for the knowledge!"—Simon J. Ortiz, Acoma Pueblo author of Woven Stone, Out There Somewhere, and From Sand Creek

“An innovative ecocritical study, Walking in the Land of Many Gods makes a real contribution to our understanding of contemporary environmental literature and of our current environmental situation. Wohlpart articulates an alternative view of the human place in the world, suggesting ways we can live richer and more ecologically sustainable lives.”—Philip Cafaro, author of Thoreau's Living Ethics: "Walden" and the Pursuit of Virtue

“This [Walking in the Land of Many Gods] suggests the possibility for an alternative way of thinking and acting in the world, thus broadening the notion of dwelling. . . the book is interesting because it offers insight into contemporary environmental writers. . . Summing up: Recommended.”—Choice

"'How are we placed on Earth,' and 'how might we re/place ourselves on Earth in more meaningful ways'? A. James Wohlpart's ambitious and delightful book answers these questions by invoking and productively complicating the later philosophy of Martin Heidegger and by analyzing three well-known ecological texts." —Jennifer Ladino, ISLE

“Walking in the Land of Many Gods explore[s] how ancient ideas about place and relations lead to theories of energy, exchange, and sustainable wellness. . . . [The book] move[s] the study of American Indian literary theory and philosophy in a new direction.” —Margaret Noodin, Studies in American Indian Literatures

From the Publisher

An innovative ecocritical study, Walking in the Land of Many Gods makes a real contribution to our understanding of contemporary environmental literature and of our current environmental situation. Wohlpart articulates an alternative view of the human place in the world, suggesting ways we can live richer and more ecologically sustainable lives.

author of Thoreau's Living Ethics: "Walden" and the Pursuit of Virtue - Philip Cafaro

A lucid, large-spirited study of environmental literature that contributes directly to a central issue in contemporary ecocriticism: how to understand humanity's fundamental connectedness to the world. Wohlpart embraces this conundrum with eloquence, optimism, and an enthusiastic sense of mystery.

editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment - Scott Slovic

A lucid, large-spirited study of environmental literature that contributes directly to a central issue in contemporary ecocriticism: how to understand humanity's fundamental connectedness to the world. Wohlpart embraces this conundrum with eloquence, optimism, and an enthusiastic sense of mystery.

editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment - Scott Slovic

An innovative ecocritical study, Walking in the Land of Many Gods makes a real contribution to our understanding of contemporary environmental literature and of our current environmental situation. Wohlpart articulates an alternative view of the human place in the world, suggesting ways we can live richer and more ecologically sustainable lives.

author of Thoreau's Living Ethics: "Walden" and the Pursuit of Virtue - Philip Cafaro