Literature and Environment

Literature and environment is an interdisciplinary field that uses resources from a variety of disciplines. "Ecocriticism" refers to the school of literary criticism devoted to studying literature and environment. Below are tips for conducting L&E research:

Starting Your Research

These books might help you find topic ideas and will give you an introduction to the field:

The Ecocriticism Reader (1996) KNIGHT: PN81 .E24 1996 (selected essays on L&E topics)

The Green Studies Reader (2000) KNIGHT: PR468 .N3 G74 2000 (survey of 19th-20th century L&E, good source for Romanticism)

The Future of Environmental Criticism (2005) KNIGHT: PS169.E25 B837 2005 (the development and future of ecocriticism)

Twentieth-Century American Nature Writers (2003) REF KNIGHT PS366.N36 T94 2003 (biographical dictionary)

American Nature Writers (1996) REF KNIGHT PS163 .A6 1996 (biographical dictionary)

You can find information on book reviews in the Book Review Index: KNIGHT REF Z1035.A1B6

To get research ideas and learn about the field, you might also scan the work of famous L&E scholars (a small selection):

• Jonathan Bate (British Romanticism)

• Lawrence Buell (America, ecocriticism, Thoreau)

• Terry Gifford (Britain and America, John Muir)

• Cheryll Glotfelty (America, ecofeminism, women writers)

• Patrick D. Murphy (ecofeminism)

• Scott Slovic (America, contemporary nature writing)

Finding Books

• UO library catalog

• WorldCat (extensive listing of books)

A good way to get research ideas is to browse the shelves:

PR 468 .N - 19th century British environmental literature (KNIGHT)

PS 169 .E25 - American environmental literature (KNIGHT)

By knowing a little bit about Library of Congress classification, you can immediately tell what discipline a book you find is in:

Literature: P (PN: many literary theory texts; PR: British; PS: American) (KNIGHT)

Science: Q (KNIGHT and SCIENCE)

Social sciences: H (KNIGHT)

History: D (KNIGHT)

Philosophy, psychology, and religion: B (KNIGHT)

Tips for searching the UO library catalog:

• Subject searching: "Nature in literature" and "ecology in literature" (search phrases in quotation marks) both produce many results. Once you find a book that looks promising, click its full record and scroll down to the subject headings list. Click any subject heading to see results in that area. (The results page will show you nearby subjects too; scan for the one you're interested in. Note red numbers indicating "additional entries." Click the "additional entries" link to view results not shown on the initial results page.) You can also use the "limit/sort," "modify search," and "advanced search options" links to combine broad subject searches with keywords and other limiters to get more specific results.

• Other subject headings that produce many results are "environmental justice" and "urban ecology." (These results by themselves may not address literary texts.)

• Keyword searching (see below: "Finding Articles; Keyword Searches"

Finding Articles and Internet Sources

Search databases. Here are some major databases to try:

MLA International Bibliography: The major literary studies database, including many subject headings and keywords for literature and environment.

ASLE Bibliography: Small database entirely devoted to L&E. Useful for major, canonical L&E writers (Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, Wordsworth, etc., especially-but not limited to--Americans)

PAIS International: Major database for the social sciences, including environmental issues.

Alternative Press Index: Alternative and radical publications, including environmental issues; left political slant. Be sensitive to possible bias.

BioOne: Good for review/overview articles in the biological sciences.

Agricola: All aspects of agriculture, including economics, forestry, alternative farming practices, and nutrition.

NatureServe: Ecological data to aid conservation decisions, especially useful if you know the name of a particular species, taxa, ecosystem, etc. you wish to research.

EPA official site: Detailed information about the Environmental Protection Agency and US environmental law.

Anthropological Literature: Articles in all areas of anthropology and archaeology.

For general research, you might also try major interdisciplinary databases:

• Academic Search Premier

• ArticleFirst

• Google Scholar

Some of these databases may include articles from magazines and other material that is not highly "scholarly." Use discretion.

Keyword Searches:

• Many words have different meanings in different contexts: "novel" can refer to a book or to something new; "environment" can mean the natural environment or the place where something happens; "nature" can mean the great outdoors or "the nature of the issue." Try search terms with limited meanings: "ecology," "national parks," "pastoral," "landscape," "wilderness," or search multiple terms "nature and environment" to limit irrelevant results.

• "Environmental history" is a keyword phrase that often produces many results. It may be useful when combined with more specific keywords.

• From a database in one discipline, try searching keywords from another discipline. For example, in Anthropological Literature, search "poetry" to get results that discuss poetry from an anthropological perspective.

• Note: In non-literary databases, "literature" refers to the scholarship written on a topic, not to "literary narratives."

General Tips: Be exploratory! Search a variety of resources and disciplines.

• Explore both Knight Library and the Science Library.

• Talk to scholars

• Search Google (evaluate the scholarly suitability of results carefully)

• Join mailing lists: the UO's L&E mailing list is Mesa Verde.

Maintained by: Arwen Spicer, arwens@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 05/21/2007

Jump to: