Murphy, Patrick D. Literature, Nature, and Other: Ecofeminist Critiques. Albany: State U of New York P, 1995. Print.
Chapters Read:
- “Let the Survivors of Contact Speak: In the Canon and in the Classroom”
- “The Present Is to Nature as the Past Is to Culture as the Future Is to Agency”
- “Simply Uncontrollable, Or Steaming Open the Envelope of Ideology”
I sincerely enjoyed reading the chapter “Let the Survivors of Contact Speak: In the Canon and in the Classroom” because of its call to action: include rather than exclude Native American voices in both the nature writing canon and the American literature canon, especially women Native American writers. This call to action fits in perfectly with the transformation aspect of ecofeminism, as inclusion of Native American women’s voices could transform the canon in beneficial ways. In an earlier chapter, Murphy examined the failure of the anthology The Norton Book of Nature Writing (1990) to capture a diversity of writers. This chapter extends that criticism to two other anthologies: On Nature (1987) and This Incomperable Lande (1991), and also includes The Idea of Wilderness: From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology (1991). I want to include a quote from Murphy that I found exhilarating:
The effect of The Idea of Wilderness and This Incomperable Lande is to create the impression that Indians have nothing to say on their own, except in ‘mythic narratives,’ and that they are saying and writing nothing today, literary or otherwise, and this I would label literary genocide. (127)
Exciting, right? I thought so, because it’s true. To systematically silence, degrade, and exclude an entire culture simply because the academy and its editors don’t agree with the culture’s approach to writing, style, genres, etc. is inexcusable. It’s wrong, and frankly, it’s nausea inducing. I expect better from the academy, and so should you all.
Murphy mentions The Native American Authors Distribution Project, which is available online here: nativeauthors.com. On the front page of their site is an important idea: “Don’t just learn about Native Americans, learn from them!” I have to admit I’ve been exposed to very little Native American poetry, fiction, non-fiction, etc. in the classroom as an undergraduate, but my graduate experience has been more positive. Still, there is room for improvement.
