Dr. Patrick D. Murphy is a Professor and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. Founding editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, he has authored Ecocritical Explorations in Literary and Cultural Studies (2009), Farther Afield in the Study of Nature Oriented Literature (2000), A Place for Wayfaring: The Poetry and Prose of Gary Snyder (2000), and Literature, Nature, and Other: Ecofeminist Critiques (1995). He has also edited or co-edited such books as Essentials of the Theory of Fiction (3rd ed. 2005), The Literature of Nature: An International Sourcebook (1998), and Ecofeminist Literary Criticism and Pedagogy (1998). He teaches critical theory, modern and contemporary American literature, comparative literature, ecocriticism and ecofeminism. Recently, he has focused attention on promoting ecocriticism in China.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Unpacking the Terms of my Title and Outlining the Organization of my Text Chapter One: Dialoguing with Bakhtin on Our Ethical Responsiblility to Anothers Chapter Two: Furnishing the Study for Performing the Household by Resolving Static Cling: The Procession of Identity and Ecology in Contemporary Literature Chapter Three: Subjects, Identities, Bodies, and Selves: Siblings, Symbiotes, and the Ecological Stakes of Self Perception Chapter Four: An Ecological Feminist Revisioning of the Masculinist Sublime Chapter Five: Consumption as Addiction, Sustainability as RecoveryChapter Six: Community Resilience and the Cosmopolitan Role in Environmental Challenge-Response NovelsChapter Seven: The Poetic Politics of Ecological Inhabitation in Neruda's Canto General, and Cardenal's Cosmic CanticleChapter Eight: The Dilemma of Terraforming in Three Parts Chapter Nine: Damning Damming Modernity: The Destructive Role of Megadams Chapter Ten: Preparing on the Plateau of Peak Oil Chapter Eleven: ConclusionWorks Cited

Articulating a methodological approach to ecocriticism, Murphy (English, Univ. of Central Florida) coins a new term that captures the intertwined nature of theory, critical practice, cultural studies, and social actions: transversal. In one sense, the author answers recent calls for more theoretical work in ecocriticism, using the word transversal to call attention to the processes of 'alliances and commingling' by which humans and 'more-than-humans' generate community in the face of difference. Contesting the viability of separating theory from practice, however, Murphy also models the dialogic relationships among transversal theory, literary analysis, ecological activism, and cultural critique. Following an introduction to the theory, a series of chapters plays out the employment of transversal ecocritical praxis within contextualized investigations of a variety of topics, texts, and human activities. Chapters consider identity, the sublime, the analogy between consumption and addiction, 'terraforming,' 'megadams,' and the future of the Okinawan economy. The articulation of Murphy's theoretical approach is at times compromised by the details of his textual and cultural analyses, but the richness of the chapters attests to the power of the conceptual framework. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.

Dr. Patrick D. Murphy is a Professor and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. Founding editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, he has authored Ecocritical Explorations in Literary and Cultural Studies (2009), Farther Afield in the Study of Nature Oriented Literature (2000), A Place for Wayfaring: The Poetry and Prose of Gary Snyder (2000), and Literature, Nature, and Other: Ecofeminist Critiques (1995). He has also edited or co-edited such books as Essentials of the Theory of Fiction (3rd ed. 2005), The Literature of Nature: An International Sourcebook (1998), and Ecofeminist Literary Criticism and Pedagogy (1998). He teaches critical theory, modern and contemporary American literature, comparative literature, ecocriticism and ecofeminism. Recently, he has focused attention on promoting ecocriticism in China.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Unpacking the Terms of my Title and Outlining the Organization of my Text Chapter One: Dialoguing with Bakhtin on Our Ethical Responsiblility to Anothers Chapter Two: Furnishing the Study for Performing the Household by Resolving Static Cling: The Procession of Identity and Ecology in Contemporary Literature Chapter Three: Subjects, Identities, Bodies, and Selves: Siblings, Symbiotes, and the Ecological Stakes of Self Perception Chapter Four: An Ecological Feminist Revisioning of the Masculinist Sublime Chapter Five: Consumption as Addiction, Sustainability as RecoveryChapter Six: Community Resilience and the Cosmopolitan Role in Environmental Challenge-Response NovelsChapter Seven: The Poetic Politics of Ecological Inhabitation in Neruda's Canto General, and Cardenal's Cosmic CanticleChapter Eight: The Dilemma of Terraforming in Three Parts Chapter Nine: Damning Damming Modernity: The Destructive Role of Megadams Chapter Ten: Preparing on the Plateau of Peak Oil Chapter Eleven: ConclusionWorks Cited

Articulating a methodological approach to ecocriticism, Murphy (English, Univ. of Central Florida) coins a new term that captures the intertwined nature of theory, critical practice, cultural studies, and social actions: transversal. In one sense, the author answers recent calls for more theoretical work in ecocriticism, using the word transversal to call attention to the processes of 'alliances and commingling' by which humans and 'more-than-humans' generate community in the face of difference. Contesting the viability of separating theory from practice, however, Murphy also models the dialogic relationships among transversal theory, literary analysis, ecological activism, and cultural critique. Following an introduction to the theory, a series of chapters plays out the employment of transversal ecocritical praxis within contextualized investigations of a variety of topics, texts, and human activities. Chapters consider identity, the sublime, the analogy between consumption and addiction, 'terraforming,' 'megadams,' and the future of the Okinawan economy. The articulation of Murphy's theoretical approach is at times compromised by the details of his textual and cultural analyses, but the richness of the chapters attests to the power of the conceptual framework. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.

Dr. Patrick D. Murphy is a Professor and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. Founding editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, he has authored Ecocritical Explorations in Literary and Cultural Studies (2009), Farther Afield in the Study of Nature Oriented Literature (2000), A Place for Wayfaring: The Poetry and Prose of Gary Snyder (2000), and Literature, Nature, and Other: Ecofeminist Critiques (1995). He has also edited or co-edited such books as Essentials of the Theory of Fiction (3rd ed. 2005), The Literature of Nature: An International Sourcebook (1998), and Ecofeminist Literary Criticism and Pedagogy (1998). He teaches critical theory, modern and contemporary American literature, comparative literature, ecocriticism and ecofeminism. Recently, he has focused attention on promoting ecocriticism in China.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Unpacking the Terms of my Title and Outlining the Organization of my Text Chapter One: Dialoguing with Bakhtin on Our Ethical Responsiblility to Anothers Chapter Two: Furnishing the Study for Performing the Household by Resolving Static Cling: The Procession of Identity and Ecology in Contemporary Literature Chapter Three: Subjects, Identities, Bodies, and Selves: Siblings, Symbiotes, and the Ecological Stakes of Self Perception Chapter Four: An Ecological Feminist Revisioning of the Masculinist Sublime Chapter Five: Consumption as Addiction, Sustainability as RecoveryChapter Six: Community Resilience and the Cosmopolitan Role in Environmental Challenge-Response NovelsChapter Seven: The Poetic Politics of Ecological Inhabitation in Neruda's Canto General, and Cardenal's Cosmic CanticleChapter Eight: The Dilemma of Terraforming in Three Parts Chapter Nine: Damning Damming Modernity: The Destructive Role of Megadams Chapter Ten: Preparing on the Plateau of Peak Oil Chapter Eleven: ConclusionWorks Cited

Articulating a methodological approach to ecocriticism, Murphy (English, Univ. of Central Florida) coins a new term that captures the intertwined nature of theory, critical practice, cultural studies, and social actions: transversal. In one sense, the author answers recent calls for more theoretical work in ecocriticism, using the word transversal to call attention to the processes of 'alliances and commingling' by which humans and 'more-than-humans' generate community in the face of difference. Contesting the viability of separating theory from practice, however, Murphy also models the dialogic relationships among transversal theory, literary analysis, ecological activism, and cultural critique. Following an introduction to the theory, a series of chapters plays out the employment of transversal ecocritical praxis within contextualized investigations of a variety of topics, texts, and human activities. Chapters consider identity, the sublime, the analogy between consumption and addiction, 'terraforming,' 'megadams,' and the future of the Okinawan economy. The articulation of Murphy's theoretical approach is at times compromised by the details of his textual and cultural analyses, but the richness of the chapters attests to the power of the conceptual framework. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.