From Ecopolitics to Ecocriticism / Gabriel Egan
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4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page i 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7222 ACCENTS ON SHAKESPEARE 8 9 General editor: TERENCE HAWKES 1011 1 2 3111 4 Green Shakespeare 5 6 7 Ecocriticism, a theoretical movement examining cultural construc- 8 tions of Nature in their social and political contexts, is making an 9222 increasingly important contribution to our understanding of Shake- 20 speare’s plays. 1 2 Green Shakespeare offers: 3 • an overview of the concept of ecocriticism; 4 • detailed ecocritical readings of Henry V, Macbeth, As You Like It, 5 Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Coriolanus, Pericles, Cymbeline, The 6 Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest; 7 • analysis of themes such as nature and human society; food and 8 biological nature; the supernatural and the weather; 9 • a bold argument for a contemporary ‘EcoShakespeare’, taking 30111 into account the environmental and political implications of 1 globalization and twenty-first century science. 2 3 Crossing the boundaries of literary and cultural studies to draw in 4 politics, philosophy, and ecology, this volume not only introduces 5 one of the most lively areas of contemporary Shakespeare studies, 6 but also offers a convincing case for Shakespeare’s continuing rele- 7 vance to contemporary theory. 8 9 Gabriel Egan is a Senior Lecturer in English at Loughborough 40111 University. He is the author of Shakespeare and Marx, and edits the 12222 journals Theatre Notebook and Shakespeare. 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page ii ACCENTS ON SHAKESPEARE General editor: TERENCE HAWKES It is more than twenty years since the New Accents series helped to establish ‘theory’ as a fundamental and continuing feature of the study of literature at the undergraduate level. Since then, the need for short, powerful ‘cutting edge’ accounts of and comments on new developments has increased sharply. In the case of Shakespeare, books with this sort of focus have not been readily available. Accents on Shakespeare aims to supply them. Accents on Shakespeare volumes will either ‘apply’ theory, or broaden and adapt it in order to connect with concrete teaching concerns. In the process, they will also reflect and engage with the major developments in Shakespeare studies of the last ten years. The series will lead as well as follow. In pursuit of this goal it will be a two-tiered series. In addition to affordable, ‘adoptable’ titles aimed at modular undergraduate courses, it will include a number of research-based books. Spirited and committed, these second-tier volumes advocate radical change rather than stolidly reinforcing the status quo. IN THE SAME SERIES Shakespeare and Appropriation Shakespeare and Feminist Performance: Edited by Christy Desmet and Ideology on Stage Robert Sawyer Sarah Werner Shakespeare Without Women Shame in Shakespeare Dympna Callaghan Ewan Fernie Philosophical Shakespeares The Sound of Shakespeare Edited by John J. Joughin Wes Folkerth Shakespeare and Modernity: Early Modern Shakespeare in the Present to Millennium Terence Hawkes Edited by Hugh Grady Making Shakespeare Marxist Shakespeares Tiffany Stern Edited by Jean E. Howard and Scott Cutler Shershow Spiritual Shakespeares Edited by Ewan Fernie Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis Philip Armstrong Presentist Shakespeare Edited by Terence Hawkes and Shakespeare and Modern Theatre: The Hugh Grady Performance of Modernity Edited by Michael Bristol and Kathleen McLuskie 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page iii 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7222 Green Shakespeare 8 9 1011 From ecopolitics 1 2 3111 to ecocriticism 4 5 6 7 8 GABRIEL EGAN 9222 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 12222 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page iv First published 2006 British Library Cataloguing in by Routledge Publication Data 2 Park Square, Milton Park, A catalogue record for this book is Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN available from the British Library Simultaneously published in Library of Congress Cataloging in the USA and Canada Publication Data by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, Egan, Gabriel. New York, NY 10016 Green Shakespeare: from ecopolitics to ecocriticism / Gabriel Egan. Routledge is an imprint of the p. cm. – (Accents on Shakespeare) Taylor & Francis Group Includes bibliographical references and index. © 2006 Gabriel Egan 1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616 – Knowledge – Natural history. 2. Ecology – Typeset in Baskerville by Political aspects. 3. Human ecology in Florence Production Ltd, literature. 4. Nature in literature. Stoodleigh, Devon 5. Ecocriticism. I. Title. II. Series. Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, PR3039.E35 2006 Padstow, Cornwall 822.3′3–dc22 2005030248 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now ISBN10: 0–415–32295–2 (hbk) known or hereafter invented, ISBN10: 0–415–32296–0 (pbk) including photocopying and ISBN10: 0–203–30077–7 (ebk) recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, ISBN13: 978–0–415–32295–9 (hbk) without permission in writing ISBN13: 978–0–415–32296–6 (pbk) from the publishers. ISBN13: 978–0–203–30077–0 (ebk) 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page v 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7222 For reading so much that was not 8 good enough and for saying so without malice, 9 this book is dedicated to my wife, Joan Fitzpatrick. 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9222 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 12222 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page vi 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page vii 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7222 Contents 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9222 List of figures viii 20 General editor’s preface ix 1 Acknowledgements xi 2 3 Introduction: Babbling of green fields 1 4 5 1 Ecopolitics/ecocriticism 17 6 7 2 Nature and human society: Coriolanus, Henry 5, 8 and Macbeth 51 9 30111 3 Food and biological nature: As You like It, Antony 1 and Cleopatra, Pericles, Cymbeline, and The Winter’s Tale 92 2 3 4 Supernature and the weather: King Lear and 4 The Tempest 132 5 6 Conclusion: EcoShakespeare 172 7 8 9 Notes 176 40111 References 182 12222 Index 195 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page viii Figures 1 James Watt’s steam engine governor 24 2 Fractal snowflake 27 3 Fractal fern leaf 27 4 The Globe playhouse timber frame 81 5 The benzene ring 173 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page ix 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7222 General editor’s preface 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9222 In our time, the field of literary studies has rarely been a settled, 20 tranquil place. Indeed, for over two decades, the clash of opposed 1 theories, prejudices, and points of view has made it more of a battle- 2 field. Echoing across its most beleaguered terrain, the student’s 3 weary complaint ‘Why can’t I just pick up Shakespeare’s plays and 4 read them?’ seems to demand a sympathetic response. 5 Nevertheless, we know that modern spectacles will always 6 impose their own particular characteristics on the vision of those 7 who unthinkingly don them. This must mean, at the very least, 8 that an apparently simple confrontation with, or pious contem- 9 plation of, the text of a 400-year-old play can scarcely supply the 30111 grounding for an adequate response to its complex demands. For 1 this reason, a transfer of emphasis from ‘text’ towards ‘context’ has 2 increasingly been the concern of critics and scholars since the 3 Second World War: a tendency that has perhaps reached its climax 4 in more recent movements such as New Historicism, Cultural 5 Materialism, or Presentism. 6 A consideration of the conditions – social, political, or economic 7 – within which the play came to exist, from which it derives, 8 and to which it speaks will certainly make legitimate demands on 9 the attention of any well-prepared student nowadays. Of course, 40111 the serious pursuit of those interests will also inevitably start to 12222 undermine ancient and inherited prejudices, such as the supposed 4544P GREEN SHAKES-B/cg 22/2/06 11:40 am Page x x General editor’s preface distinction between ‘foreground’ and ‘background’ in literary studies. And even the slightest awareness of the pressures of gender or of race, or the most cursory glance at the role played by that strange creature ‘Shakespeare’ in our cultural politics, will reinforce a similar turn towards questions that sometimes appear scandal- ously ‘non-literary’. It seems clear that very different and unsettling notions of the ways in which literature might be addressed can hardly be avoided. The worrying truth is that nobody can just pick up Shakespeare’s plays and read them. Perhaps – even more worrying – they never could. The aim of Accents on Shakespeare is to encourage students and teachers to explore the implications of this situation by means of an engagement with the major developments in Shakespeare studies over recent years. It will offer a continuing and challenging reflection on those ideas through a series of multi- and single-author books which will also supply the basis for adapting or augmenting them in the light of changing concerns. Accents on Shakespeare also intends to lead as well as follow.