Going Away to Think
Engagement, Retreat, and Ecocritical Responsibility
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- $31.99
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- $31.99
Publisher Description
Scott Slovic has spent his life as a teacher, writer, environmental activist, and leader in the field of ecocritical literary studies. In Going Away to Think, he reflects on the twin motivations of his life—the commitment to do some good in the world and the impulse to enjoy life and participate fully in its most intense moments—and he examines the tension created by his efforts to balance these two poles of his responsibility. These essays reveal the complex inner life of one of this generation’s most important environmental critics and literary activists. They range from profound discussions of the role and responsibilities of scholarship to deeply personal ruminations on the impact of family crises and the influence of his wide-ranging travels.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this uneven essay collection that veers between the pedantic and profound, Slovic looks through the lens of literature and life to examine the balance between activism and contemplation: "the responsibility... to be fully present in this life and the responsibility... to be involved with the transgressions and the opportunities of my community." Some essays are almost purely didactic, such as "Ecocriticism," which outlines essential but hardly earth-shattering strategies for ecological writing: storytelling, values (a rejection of supposed scholarly neutrality), communication ("so much literary scholarship is unreadable garbage") and contact. At other times Slovic is subtle, poetic and provocative, as in "Be Prepared for the Worst," a deeply moving warning against "the sweet sadness of future remorse" that demonstrates how a personal "worst" the death of Slovic's own child, for example holds more "emotional sharpness" than hugely tragic but slow-moving, "large, systemic patterns" like ecological deterioration. Despite the academic tone, Slovic's struggle to engage meaningfully with humanity and art in order to fight for a natural world he loves will resonate with readers grappling with their own balancing acts between the personal and planetary.
