Exploring Ecological Harmony: A Leopoldian Analysis of Nature in Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer (2000)
Keywords:
Ecological harmony, integrity, stability, ecological consciousness, biodiversityAbstract
Barbara Kingsolver’s novel Prodigal Summer (2000) is set in the Appalachian Mountains, and weaves the themes of human-animal relationships, biodiversity, ecological dynamics and ecological consciousness. This article explores Kingsolver’s portrayal of nature in Prodigal Summer through the lens of Aldo Leopold’s seminal work A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There (1949), focusing in particular on Leopold’s concepts of integrity, stability, and beauty of nature. Through this investigation, the article analyses how Kingsolver’s characters navigate ecological integrity, and address environmental ethics and the conservation of the natural world. It uses literary analysis to demonstrate how the novel embodies Leopold’s idea of a land ethic based on respect for the natural processes, the integrity of ecosystems, and the inherent beauty of the natural world. In the process, this paper uses the novel’s depiction of ecological themes to frame modern environmental discussions for a better perspective on how humans connect to the environment.
References
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
Commoner, Barry. The Closing Circle: Native, Man & Technology. Bantam Books, 1974.
Flader, Susan. Thinking Like a Mountain: Aldo Leopold and the Evolution of an Ecological Attitude Toward Deer, Wolves, and Forests. University of Wisconsin Press, 1994.
Glotfelty, Cheryll, and Harold Fromm. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. University of Georgia P, 1996.
Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There. Penguin Books Limited, 2020.
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, et al. Selected Prose Works of G.E. Lessing. G. Bell, 1879.
Oxford Dictionary of English. Spain, OUP Oxford, 2010.
Shiva, Vandana. Mies, Maria. Ecofeminism. Zed Books. 2014.
Wenz, Peter S. “Leopold’s Novel: The Land Ethic in Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer.” Ethics and the Environment, vol. 8, no. 2, 2003, pp. 106–25. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40339069