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'Here, am I, in the midst of this immense forest': Irish Immigrants in the American Wilderness
Nardi, Paola Anna
2015
Abstract
The essay focuses on the transformation of Irish immigrants’ relationship with nature and the landscape around them once they have left their beloved motherland to take their chances in the New World. A close analysis of James McHenry’s novel The Wilderness or Braddock’s Time; A Tale of the West will show that after the crossing of the Atlantic the initial pastoral reverence for an idyllic Ireland gives way to a conquering and aggressive attitude towards the American wilderness, their new home, on the part of the Irish immigrant Gilbert Franzier and his countrymen. At the same time this objectification of nature uniquely “valued in terms of its usefulness to [humankind]” (Garrard 18) contrasts with the concern for nature of the American Natives whom Irish immigrants meet when invading their land.
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Paola Anna Nardi "'Here, am I, in the midst of this immense forest': Irish Immigrants in the American Wilderness" in: Leonardo Buonomo and Elisabetta Vezzosi (edited by) "Discourses of Emancipation and the Boundaries of Freedom. Selected Papers from the 22nd AISNA Biennial International Conference", EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2015, pp.169-175
Languages
en
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