As discussed in the previous blog post, there is a specific stereotype of a ‘white male persona venturing into the wilderness away from the city and urban life’ that has been traditionally – and is still – constantly promoted throughout the nature writing genre. The belief that to find one’s truer, more authentic self one has to venture outside the limits of what constitutes urban life is plastered on page after page in these tomes, to then be bound in colourful leafy covers depicting forests and jungles. But what about the edgelands?

In a society that is increasingly technology-dependent, we have created our own mythologies that support the separation between civilisation and wilderness; the two terms being dichotomously opposed, as if one couldn’t ‘find oneself’ amidst the concrete jungle. This belief has created a literary neglect for the edgelands: these transitional spaces between the city and the countryside. Although it is difficult to find forms of non-human nature in the urban nucleus, there is no need to venture all the way into the countryside to find plants or trees – and, in consequence, nature writing should not only be confined to said areas.

Though access to many wild places remains a privilege, access to enchantment and meaning need not be. The more we idolise extreme or unusual experiences of the natural world, the less inclined we will be to bother looking for meaning in our ordinary lives, on our own street, in our local patch of park. – Zoe Gilbert

If nature writing means to be all-encompassing in its definition of ‘nature,’ then it needs to expand its horizons to include our human selves and the spaces we inhabit. Research into Indigenous literature from Native America has shown that these Western-imposed distinctions between nature and civilisation need not exist, as authors fuse the human with the non-human in their writing in a way that questions the strict boundaries of the nature writing genre. The research reveals that Western audiences are often confused by this fusion and they regard American Indian writing or tradition as seemingly ‘dreamlike or ambiguous in its treatment of humans and nonhuman nature.’ This is ultimately due to the treatment of nature in a more general literary context. Whereas in Western societies nature is usually made the background of the main action or narrative – and it is only brought into the foreground in its specific ‘nature writing’ genre – ‘Native Americans “write nature” regardless of genre.’ Perhaps it is time that we take their example and break nature free from its literary constructs and integrate it into all forms of literature, and, in turn, into our everyday lives.

Sources:

Writing Nature: Silko and Native Americans as Nature Writers

Nature writing is booming – but must a walk in the woods always be meaningful? (The Guardian)