The View from Above in American Literature by Rodriguez, David;

Rövid leírás:

Develops a new theory of literary imagination for the Anthropocene by analysing descriptions of the environment from above

Hosszú leírás:

Readers encounter the environment through literature in ways not available to everyday perception. This is especially clear when a text integrates the grand vistas of what is known as the bird’s-eye view. In this welcome contribution to the contemporary theoretical discussion about storied environments and non-human perceptions, David Rodriguez presents an original interpretation of the aesthetics of the view from above. Focusing on fiction by twentieth-century American writers including Willa Cather, Paul Bowles and Don DeLillo, Rodriguez skilfully combines ecocriticism, narrative theory and phenomenological approaches to literature to develop the term ‘form of environment’. This theory of literary fiction foregrounds the environment not as setting or historical context, but as an equal agent with the human figures and scales that are normally the focus of literary analysis.

Tartalomjegyzék:

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Flights Without Wings

1. Foundations for the View from Above in Literary Fiction: Description, Form and Indeterminacy

2. Extent, Built Form and Willa Cather’s Landscapes

3. Verticality and Empty Thematics in Paul Bowles's Novels

4. ‘Only Scenery’: Scale, Whole-Earth Images and Don DeLillo’s ‘Human Moments in World War III’

Conclusion: On Drone and Satellite Images

Bibliography

Index