ABSTRACT
Conrad and Nature is the first collection of critical essays examining nature and the environment in Joseph Conrad’s writings. Together, these essays by established and emerging scholars reveal both the crucial importance of nature in Conrad’s work, and the vital, ongoing relevance of Conrad’s treatment of the environment in our era of globalization and climate change. No richer subject matter for an environmentally-engaged criticism can be found than the Conradian contexts and themes under investigation in this volume: island cultures, colonial occupations, storms at sea, mining and extraction, inconstant weather, ecological collapse, and human communities competing for resources. The 17 essays collected here —13 new essays, and 4 excerpts from classic works of Conradian scholarship -- consolidate some of the most important voices and perspectives on Conrad’s relation to the natural world, and open new avenues for Conradian and environmental scholarship in the 21st century.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|24 pages
Conrad and the Anthropocene
part II|22 pages
Conrad’s Atmospherics
chapter 7|24 pages
Conrad’s Ecological Performativity
part III|25 pages
Conrad, Ethics and Ecology
part IV|19 pages
Nature, Empire and Commerce
chapter 12|17 pages
“He Can’t Throw Any of His Coal-Dust in My Eyes”
part V|5 pages
Earlier Commentary