Going Away to Think: Engagement, Retreat, and Ecocritical Responsibility
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.16 (735 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0874177561 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 264 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-07-17 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"a heartfelt must-read for the environmentalist" according to C. B. St Hilaire. Scott Slovic finds a perfect balance between scholarship and action in this engaging, personal, and heartfelt essay. He uses many examples to prove that language and communication are the backbone of creating positive environmental change. At the same time, he discusses the inner conflict of wanting to truly enjoy life and all its experiences while making the world a better place at the same time.Throughout t
In Going Away to Think, ecocritic Scott Slovic offers a selection of seventeen essays that include travel narratives, meditations on the social role of ecological literary criticism, responses to socially engaged literary and scholarly texts, and demonstrations of the author’s own forays into literary activism.
At other times Slovic is subtle, poetic and provocative, as in Be Prepared for the Worst, a deeply moving warning against the sweet sadness of future remorse that demonstrates how a personal worst—the death of Slovic's own child, for example—holds more emotional sharpness than hugely tragic but slow-moving, large, systemic patterns like ecological deterioration. From Publishers Weekly In this uneven essay collection that veers between the pedantic and profound, Slovic looks through the lens of literature and life to examine the balance between activism and contemplation: the responsibility to be fully present in this life and the responsibility to be involved with the transgressions and the opportunities of my community. . Despite the academic tone, Slovic's struggle to engage meaningfully with humanity and art in order to fight for a natural world he loves will resonate with readers grappling with their own balancing acts between the perso