Literature As Cultural Ecology ─ Sustainable Texts

Drawing on previous publications in German, Zapf offers his theory of imaginative literature based on the paradigm of cultural ecology--a new direction in recent ecocriticism which has garnered considerable attention in Europe and the German-speaking world and is also beginning to be discussed in English-language publications in the field. While the contemporary ecocritic ideally would be conversant with myriad disciplines--too many to cope with--he contends that ecocritical scholarship should always be part of an ongoing dialogue and cooperative form of work-in-progress between scholars. He presents his book as part of such an ongoing dialogue and focuses directly on the ecological potential of literary culture, which comprises both the scholarly disciplines concerned with literary studies and the ecological knowledge provided by literary texts themselves. The book concentrates on examples from American literature particularly, with texts from other literary cultures included to indicate the transnational and transcultural horizon of a cultural ecology of literature. Annotation c2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Hubert Zapf is Professor and Chair of American Literature at the University of Augsburg, Germany. His recent books include, as co-editor, American Studies Today: New Research Agendas (2014) and English and American Studies: Theory and Practice (2012).