Harnessing new enthusiasm for Nan Shepherd’s writing, The Living World asks how literature might help us reimagine humanity’s place on earth in the midst of our ecological crisis. The first book to examine Shepherd’s writing through an ecocritical lens, it reveals forgotten details about the scientific, political and philosophical climate of early twentieth century Scotland, and offers new insights into Shepherd’s distinctive environmental thought. More than this, this book reveals how Shepherd’s ways of relating to complex, interconnected ecologies predate many of the core themes and concerns of the multi-disciplinary environmental humanities, and may inform their future development.
Broken down into chapters focusing on themes of place, ecology, environmentalism, Deep Time, vital matter and selfhood, The Living World offers the first integrated study of Shepherd’s writing and legacy, making the work of this philosopher, feminist, amateur ecologist, geologist, and innovative modernist, accessible and relevant to a new community of readers.