Reclaiming Nostalgia : Longing for Nature in American Literature

Often thought of as the quintessential home or the Eden from which humanity has fallen, the natural world has long been a popular object of nostalgic narratives. In Reclaiming Nostalgia, Jennifer Ladino assesses the ideological effects of this phenomenon by tracing its dominant forms in American literature and culture since the closing of the frontier in 1890. While referencing nostalgia for pastoral communities and for untamed and often violent frontiers, she also highlights the ways in which nostalgia for nature has served as a mechanism for social change, a model for ethical relationships, and a motivating force for social and environmental justice. -- back cover Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Having a Field Day: Authentic Indians and Patriotic Tourism in the Early National Parks 1. Longing for Wonderland: Zitkala-Ša’s Post-Frontier Nostalgia “Plucked up by the Roots”: The Nostalgic Trajectories of the Southern Agrarians 2. “Home Thoughts”: The Transnational Routes of Nostalgia in Claude McKay’s Home to Harlem Born Free and Equal: Frontier Nostalgia and the Nature of Manzanar 3. Nostalgia’s Caring Capacity: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, and the “Last Call” for Nature “A Tear for the Fate of America”: The (Crying) Indianas Spokesperson for a Vanishing Natural World 4. Remembering the Earth: N. Scott Momaday’s Nostalgic American Land Ethic Patenting “the Last of Nature’s Creations”: Mice and Men in a Postnatural World 5. Don DeLillo’s Postmodern Homesickness: Nostalgia after the End of Nature Nature Survives: Frontier Nostalgia on Reality tv 6. Nostalgia and Nature at the Millennium: Ruth Ozeki’s Green Culture of Life Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index