Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place

Edited by Laura Wright and Jessica Cory

Title Details

Pages: 316

Illustrations: 9 b&w images

Trim size: 6.000in x 9.000in

Formats

Paperback

Pub Date: 05/01/2023

ISBN: 9-780-8203-6395-0

List Price: $44.95

Hardcover

Pub Date: 05/01/2023

ISBN: 9-780-8203-6394-3

List Price: $114.95

eBook

Pub Date: 05/01/2023

ISBN: 9-780-8203-6392-9

List Price: $44.95

eBook

Pub Date: 05/01/2023

ISBN: 9-780-8203-6393-6

List Price: $44.95

Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place

Edited by Laura Wright and Jessica Cory

Scholarly essays that engage environmental and ecocritical theories

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  • Description
  • Reviews
  • Contributors

Ecocriticism and Appalachian studies continue to grow and thrive in academia, as they expand on their foundational works to move in new and exciting directions. When researching these areas separately, there is a wealth of information. However, when researching Appalachian ecocriticism specifically, the lack of consolidated scholarship is apparent. With Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place, editors Jessica Cory and Laura Wright have created the only book-length scholarly collection of Appalachian ecocriticism.

Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place is a collection of scholarly essays that engage environmental and ecocritical theories and Appalachian literature and film. These essays, many from well-established Appalachian studies and southern studies scholars and ecocritics, engage with a variety of ecocritical methodologies, including ecofeminism, ecospiritualism, queer ecocriticism, and materialist ecocriticism, to name a few.

Adding Appalachian voices to the larger ecocritical discourse is vital not only for the sake of increased diversity but also to allow those unfamiliar with the region and its works to better understand the Appalachian region in a critical and authentic way. Including Appalachia in the larger ecocritical community allows for the study of how the region, its issues, and its texts intersect with a variety of communities, thus allowing boundless possibilities for learning and analysis.

Until now, ecocriticism’s engagement with Appalachian literature has not been thoroughly explored. This book aims to change that with its analyses of Appalachian literary texts. The editors have assembled a collection of essays that is unprecedented in the variety of environmental theoretical frameworks it uses: ecotheology, pastoralism, post-pastoralism, ecofeminism, etc. Its originality is refreshing.

—Sandra L. Ballard, editor of the Appalachian Journal

Appalachian Ecocriticism makes a solid, convincing case that ecocritical readings of Appalachian literature are crucial to dispelling myths about the region and foregrounding both the intersectional nature of place as well as mapping out ways to understand Appalachia as a 'place.' While contemporary representations have perpetuated outdated images that characterize Appalachia as backward, white, and rural, these scholars’ works foreground both the heterogeneity and connectedness within Appalachia and effectively expand dialogues about the region’s cultural identity, built and natural environments.

—Melinda Beth Keefauver, professor of English, Univeristy of South Carolina, Upstate

Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place undertakes an overdue task: collecting in one place representative examples of the many experiments in ecocriticism that have long played an important role in Appalachian Studies. . . . The collection as a whole has a clear sense of purpose, and the individual essays are careful, engaging, and thought-provoking.

—Douglas Reichert Powell, author of Critical Regionalism: Connecting Politics and Culture in the American Landscape

Elisabeth Aiken

M. Joseph Aloi

Cynthia Belmont

Theresa Burriss

Cameron Williams Crawford

Evan Gurney

Ethan Mannon

Michael S. Martin

Savannah Paige Murray

Lucas Nossaman

Kevin E. O’Donnell

Caleb Pendygraft

Stewart Plein

Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt

Zackary Vernon

About the Author/Editor

Laura Wright (Editor)
LAURA WRIGHT is the founder of the field of vegan studies. She is professor of English at Western Carolina University and the author of The Vegan Studies Project: Food, Animals, and Gender in the Age of Terror (Georgia). Most recently, she edited The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies. She lives in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

Jessica Cory (Editor)
JESSICA CORY teaches in the English studies department at Western Carolina University. She is the editor of Mountains Piled upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene, and her writing has been published in the North Carolina Literary Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and Northern Appalachia Review. She lives in Sylva, North Carolina.