Reclaiming nostalgia [electronic resource] : longing for nature in American literature / Jennifer K. Ladino.

ISBN:

9780813933368

Title:

Author:

Ladino, Jennifer K.

Personal Author:

Ladino, Jennifer K.

Publication Information:

Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2012.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (pages).

Series:

Under the Sign of Nature

Contents:

Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; HAVING A FIELD DAY: AUTHENTIC INDIANS AND PATRIOTIC TOURISM IN THE EARLY NATIONAL PARKS; 1 / Longing for Wonderland: Zitkala-Ša's Post-Frontier Nostalgia; "PLUCKED UP BY THE ROOTS": THE NOSTALGIC TRAJECTORIES OF THE SOUTHERN AGRARIANS; 2 /"Home Thoughts": The Transnational Routes of Nostalgia in Claude McKay's; NOSTALGIA AND THE NATURE OF MANZANAR; 3 /Nostalgia's Caring Capacity:; ""A TEAR FOR THE FATE OF AMERICA": THE (CRYING) INDIAN AS SPOKESPERSON FOR A VANISHING NATURAL WORLD

4 /Remembering the Earth: N. Scott Momaday's Nostalgic American Land EthicPATENTING "THE LAST OF NATURE'S CREATIONS": MICE AND MEN IN A POSTNATURAL WORLD; 5 /Don DeLillo's Postmodern Homesickness: Nostalgia after the End of Nature; NATURE SURVIVES: NOSTALGIA ON REALITY TV; 6 /Nostalgia and Nature at the Millennium: Ruth Ozeki's Green Culture of Life; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

American literature -- History and criticism.

Nature in literature.

Nostalgia in literature.

Homesickness in literature.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2012

Publication Information:

Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2012.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
810.936 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Often thought of as the quintessential home or the Eden from which humanity has fallen, the natural world has long been a popular object of nostalgic narratives. In Reclaiming Nostalgia, Jennifer Ladino assesses the ideological effects of this phenomenon by tracing its dominant forms in American literature and culture since the closing of the frontier in 1890. While referencing nostalgia for pastoral communities and for untamed and often violent frontiers, she also highlights the ways in which nostalgia for nature has served as a mechanism for social change, a model for ethical relationships, and a motivating force for social and environmental justice.

Author Notes

Jennifer K. Ladino is Associate Professor of English at the University of Idaho.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Ladino (Univ. of Idaho) investigates the nuances of nostalgia in texts by Zitkala-Sa, Claude McKay, Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, N. Scott Momaday, Don DeLillo, and Ruth Ozeki. Unlike William Cronon and Raymond Williams, who question nostalgia's value to environmental ethics, Ladino argues that literary texts can be productively "counter-nostalgic." She shows how these authors use nostalgia as a vehicle to analyze oppressive power structures and construct alternative possibilities for relationships between the human and "more-than-human." The author analyzes literary texts that upend seemingly unproblematic nostalgic narratives of the past or that envision potential improved futures, and she offers carefully detailed textual critiques to support her thesis. Two especially intriguing contributions to debates concerning environmental justice include her treatment of nostalgia after the "end of nature" and nostalgia in relation to agricultural technologies. Ladino adds a new voice to theoretical considerations of nostalgia by scholars such as Svetlana Boym, Andreea Deciu Ritivoi, and John Su, whose work elaborates the transformative potential of nostalgia. Students and scholars of literary criticism working within ecocritical, green cultural, and American studies traditions will find this book pertinent to their interests. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty. C. R. Haller York College, CUNY