Elizabeth D. Gruber - Renaissance Ecopolitics From Shakespeare to Bacon

Renaissance Ecopolitics from Shakespeare to Bacon

The work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries has often been the testing ground for innovations in literary studies, but this has not been true of ecocriticism. This is partly because, until recently, most ecologically minded writers have located the origins of ecological crisis in the Enlightenment, with the legacies of the Cartesian cogito singled out as a particular cause of our current woes. Traditionally, Renaissance writers were tacitly (or, occasionally, overtly) presumed to be oblivious of environmental degradation and unaware that the epistemethe conceptual edifice of their historical momentwas beginning to crack. This perception is beginning to change, and Dr Gubers work is poised to illuminate the burgeoning number of ecocritical studies devoted to this period, in particular, by showing how the classical concept of the cosmopolis, which posited the harmonious integration of the Order of Nature (cosmos) with the Order of Society (polis), was at once revived and also systematically dismantled in the Renaissance. Renaissance Ecopolitics from Shakespeare to Bacon: Rethinking Cosmopolis demonstrates that the Renaissance is the hinge, the crucial turning point in the human-nature relationship, and examines the persisting ecological consequences of the nature-states demise.

Elizabeth Gruber is a Professor in the English Department at Lock Haven University.

Routledge Studies in Shakespeare

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com.

15 Shakespeare in Hate
Emotions, Passions, Selfhood
Peter Kishore Saval

16 Shakespeare and Hospitality
Ethics, Politics, and Exchange
Edited by David B. Goldstein and Julia Reinhard Lupton

17 Shakespeare, Cinema, Counter-Culture
Appropriation and Inversion
Ailsa Grant Ferguson

18 Shakespeares Folly
Philosophy, Humanism, Critical Theory
Sam Hall

19 Shakespeares Asian Journeys
Critical Encounters, Cultural Geographies, and the Politics of Travel
Edited by Bi-qi Beatrice Lei, Poonam Trivedi, and Judy Celine Ick

20 Shakespeare, Italy, and Transnational Exchange
Early Modern to the Present
Edited by Enza De Francisci and Chris Stamatakis

21 Shakespeare and Complexity Theory
Claire Hansen

22 Women and Mobility on Shakespeares Stage
Migrant Mothers and Broken Homes
Elizabeth Mazzola

23 Renaissance Ecopolitics from Shakespeare to Bacon
Rethinking Cosmopolis
Elizabeth Gruber

First published 2017
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The right of Elizabeth Gruber to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ISBN: 978-0-415-41886-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-22879-2 (ebk)

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For Bob

The interpretation of King Lear advanced in the introduction has been adapted from an essay that originally appeared in ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Nature on the Verge: Confronting Bare Life in Arden of Faversham and King Lear, and it is reproduced here with the kind permission of that journal. An earlier version of appeared as an article Building the Necropolis: Killing Mother/Nature in The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus in an issue of LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, and this journal has likewise generously granted permission for the reuse of this work.

While completing this book I have incurred many debts, and I gratefully acknowledge them here. The research support from Lock Haven University was crucial, so I thank my institution for the privilege of focusing exclusively on my writing for a semester. Likewise, the staff at Stevenson Library, on my campus, have eased my work in countless waysI will never stop marveling at how quickly they are able to make needed books appear. My professional life is enriched by the bright and talented students in my classes, and I credit them with continually rejuvenating my own interest in the persisting significance of Renaissance literature.

I was incredibly fortunate to be paired with Jennifer Abbot from Routledge, whose editorial acumen, professionalism, and generally upbeat demeanor kept me focused and motivated. Jennifers assistant, Erin Little, has also handled her duties with aplomb, making the final stages of manuscript preparation run as smoothly as possible. Finally, the feedback provided by the two readers for Routledge, who commented on the manuscript when it was at a much earlier stage, has proven invaluable: it inspired me to consider more fully how my work fits in with the thriving field of Renaissance ecocriticism, and this energized my thinking about several key issues.

In the immersive work of bringing this project to completion, different friends and family members have been pressed into service, and they always delivered. I want to thank hiking-buddies and interlocutors-extraordinaire Michael Myers, Evan Reibsome, and Carrie Shirk: whether we were scaling mountains in the Adirondacks or recovering around the post-climb campfire, your smart questions and often funny responses to my obsessions-of-the moment kept me motivated. I do hope you all remain enthralled by Giordano Bruno.

And to Bob: without your support and encouragement, and your intimate knowledge of matters ranging from the technological to the densely theoretical, this book simply would never have been written. You have taught me how to combine intellectual pursuits and other passions in ways that enrich every day.