At Work in Nature? Hands-On Environmentalism and the Georgic Mode

Join MHU’s Division of Arts & Humanities, Appalachian Studies Program, and Environmental Studies Program Environmental Studies Program for a talk by Professor Ethan Mannon about his recent publication, The Georgic Mode in Twentieth-Century American Literature: The Satisfactions of Soil and Sweat. Dr. Mannon’s talk will center around two competing but complementary land ethics in America. One is a “wilderness ethic” that depicts nature as a space for leisure and recreation. The other frames rural landscapes as a space for labor. Both, Mannon suggests, are rooted in much older literary traditions that challenge common ideas about the who, what, and where of environmentalism.