"An Insect View of Its Plain": Insects, Nature and God in Thoreau, Dickinson and Muir

During the nineteenth century, insects became a very fashionable subject of study, and the writing of the day reflected this popularity. However, despite an increased contemporary interest in ecocriticism and cultural entomology, scholars have largely ignored the presence of insects in nineteenth-century literature. This volume addresses that critical gap by exploring the cultural and literary position of insects in the work of Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and John Muir. It examines the beliefs these authors share about the nature of our connection to insects and what insects have to teach about creation and our place in it. An important contribution to both ecocriticism and literary entomology, this work contributes much to the understanding of Thoreau, Dickinson, and Muir as nature writers, natural scientists, entomologists, and botanists, and their intimate and highly spiritual relationships with nature.

1114710062
"An Insect View of Its Plain": Insects, Nature and God in Thoreau, Dickinson and Muir

During the nineteenth century, insects became a very fashionable subject of study, and the writing of the day reflected this popularity. However, despite an increased contemporary interest in ecocriticism and cultural entomology, scholars have largely ignored the presence of insects in nineteenth-century literature. This volume addresses that critical gap by exploring the cultural and literary position of insects in the work of Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and John Muir. It examines the beliefs these authors share about the nature of our connection to insects and what insects have to teach about creation and our place in it. An important contribution to both ecocriticism and literary entomology, this work contributes much to the understanding of Thoreau, Dickinson, and Muir as nature writers, natural scientists, entomologists, and botanists, and their intimate and highly spiritual relationships with nature.

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"An Insect View of Its Plain": Insects, Nature and God in Thoreau, Dickinson and Muir

by Rosemary Scanlon McTier

"An Insect View of Its Plain": Insects, Nature and God in Thoreau, Dickinson and Muir

by Rosemary Scanlon McTier

Paperback

$39.95 
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Overview

During the nineteenth century, insects became a very fashionable subject of study, and the writing of the day reflected this popularity. However, despite an increased contemporary interest in ecocriticism and cultural entomology, scholars have largely ignored the presence of insects in nineteenth-century literature. This volume addresses that critical gap by exploring the cultural and literary position of insects in the work of Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and John Muir. It examines the beliefs these authors share about the nature of our connection to insects and what insects have to teach about creation and our place in it. An important contribution to both ecocriticism and literary entomology, this work contributes much to the understanding of Thoreau, Dickinson, and Muir as nature writers, natural scientists, entomologists, and botanists, and their intimate and highly spiritual relationships with nature.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780786464937
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date: 02/01/2013
Pages: 212
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Rosemary Scanlon McTier is an instructor of English at Waynesburg University in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi

Preface 1

Textual Abbreviations 4

Introduction - Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and John Muir: Interpreting the language of Nature 5

I Insects and the Nineteenth Century 27

II "With Microscopic Eye": Thoreau's Insect Perspective 70

III "A Minor Nation": Emily Dickinson and the Insects' Society 104

IV John Muir: Translating "Nature's Book" 145

Chapter Notes 177

Works Cited 185

Index 193

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