What is Ecocriticism?

by David W. Teague

Ecocriticism seems to have arrived at one of its early major crises. As the title of this panel implies, there are some pressing issues arising in the intersection of the theory and practice of ecocriticism. One of these issues, as far as I can tell, is that the theory and the practice of ecocriticism in fact exist apart from one another more often than they should. This separation occurs along very specific lines, and, as many of us are finding in our classrooms, one of those lines seems to run between the front row of chairs and the lectern. Whether for generational, cultural, ethical, or moral reasons, or, quite likely, some combination of the above, it is difficult consistently to maintain the interest of one's undergraduate students in the literature of nature.

The most common response to this problem is to blame one's students. At least that's my most common response. "What's missing in them?" we ask, "Why can't these kids see the value of Thoreau's experiment in Walden Woods?" But nothing is wrong with our students. Generally, they want to learn things they can use, and without a fairly sophisticated critical perspective, much nature writing is alien to the experiences of contemporary college students. The field guide, the ramble, the backcountry journal, the travel narrative are all, from a generic perspective, very interesting to a certain demographic group, namely the educated middle class from which many college professors come. Also interesting to us are deep ecology and the convergence between ecocriticism and postmodernism, but we ought to realize that the love of ecological writing is not a universal good, that it is defined culturally, among other things, and that our students often have a different culture from us. Not only do they have a different culture from us, they are also justified in having a different culture from us.

But still, it's true that our students do live in the world, and that they ought to know how to read what people say about it. In order to help them learn, I think we'd do well to impart to ecocriticism some of the energy and sophistication that other critical movements--Marxism, feminism, the civil rights movement--have in the past few decades brought to bear on literature. As well as exposing students to the "deep" ecologies of Muir, Burroughs, Thoreau, Austin--three men and one woman in nature--we might also do well to expose them to more pressing concerns such as the contemporary environmental justice debate, which is reflected in much of the literature we teach. We need a pedagogy of ecofeminism--actually, we need several of them. We need to start thinking about environmental literature and race. Consider, for instance, the racial composition of this panel.

I submit for consideration the March 1994 volume of American Quarterly. It is devoted to the discussion of American suburbs. Relying primarily on sociological methodology, it simultaneously addresses questions of land-use, gender, race, class, and, significantly, reading. Can we apply similar paradigms in our endeavor to make the study of literature and environment more relevant to our students' experiences?

David W. Teague, University of Delaware