Title
Community within Nature: Culture and Environment in the Chimney Farm Literature of Henry Beston and Elizabeth Coatsworth, 1944–48
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2011
Abstract
In the nature section of used bookstores, readers interested in back-to-the-land movements are sometimes surprised to find the longevity of this impulse. The wish to leave the urban environment for the countryside, and to write about it, has been a strong desire in American culture. No matter what decade, the overall theme of these books remains remarkably similar: an over-arching antimodernist appeal to middle-class urbanites concerned with unchecked industrial growth, urban sprawl, and the fast pace of modern living. And yet, this dominant focus overshadows other possible means of interpreting these texts. In the 1940s, writers Henry Beston and Elizabeth Coatsworth, among others, moved beyond simple condemnation of modernism to embrace concern for the environment; to a significant degree, this revolt against modernism helped set the stage for the modern environmental movement.
Publication Title
ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment
Volume
18
Issue
4
First Page
820
Last Page
839
DOI of Published Version
10.1093/isle/isr105
Recommended Citation
Potts, Dale E., "Community within Nature: Culture and Environment in the Chimney Farm Literature of Henry Beston and Elizabeth Coatsworth, 1944–48" (2011). School of American and Global Studies Faculty Publications with a Focus on History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Religion. 15.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/hppr_pubs/15