Dripping dry
Subtitle: literature, politics, and water in the desert Southwest
By: David N. Cassuto.
Series: Studies in literature and science
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 206
Subjects: American literature -- Southwest, New -- History and criticism.; Authors, American -- Homes and haunts -- Southwest, New.; Water supply -- Political aspects -- Southwest, New.; Politics and literature -- Southwest, New.; Water supply -- Southwest, New.; Water -- Southwest, New.; Deserts in literature.; Water in literature.; Southwest, New -- Politics and government.; Southwestern States -- Intellectual life.; Southwest, New -- Intellectual life.; Southwest, New -- In literature.
Description: More than any other single characteristic, aridity defines the American West. Water scarcity and its biologically critical function have also molded the regional literature of the region. Using novels by Barbara Kingsolver, Edward Abbey, John Steinbeck and Mary Austin, Dripping Dry combines literary analysis with environmental criticism to demonstrate how the myths that have pervaded the regional literature of the West have interacted with the myths that have shaped water policy throughout the twentieth century. The four works selected (Animal Dreams, The Monkey Wrench Gang, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Ford) present a composite portrait of reclamation, which the author argues is one of the most important cultural and ecological phenomena in the nation's history. The tensions and contradictions presented by the novels underscore the compelling need for an ecocritique of the relationship between literature and politics. David N. Cassuto deciphers the myths of reclamation and restoration and presents a third alternative--sustainability--in their stead. The challenge is a large one, because of the size and complexity of the region and because nature continues to evolve and create itself, a process involving language, ideology, and the land. The book is designed to be an interdisciplinary contribution both to the emerging field of literature and the environment, as well as to environmental studies.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-187) and index.
Revision of the author's thesis, Indiana University.
Table of contents: title: The birth of the hydraulic conflict; title: River wars : Los Angeles, the Owens Valley, and Mary Austin's The ford; title: Turning wine into water : water's crucial absence in The grapes of wrath; title: Waging water : hydrology versus mythology in The monkey wrench gang; title: The environmental system : animal dreams and the rhetoric of environment; title: Imaging sustainability.