The Comedy of Survival: Literary Ecology and a Play EthicSince publication of the first edition more than twenty years ago, The Comedy of Survival has been credited as the founding work in the field of literary ecology, the study of relationships between the literary arts and scientific ecology. Here, Joseph Meeker expands upon his consideration of comedy and tragedy, not as dramatic motifs for humor and sadness but rather as forms of adaptive behavior in the natural world that either promote our survival (comedy) or estrange us from other life forms (tragedy). In this third major edition of his classic work, Meeker examines the role of literature in shaping such behavior. Drawing upon centuries of western writing from Dante to Shakespeare to E. O. Wilson, he demonstrates the universality of comedy in both human and animal behavior and shows how the comic mode helps us to live in harmony with nature. Meeker then defines the tragic view of life, interweaving that behavior with exploitation of the environment. With imagination and flair, the author also introduces the idea of a play ethic, as opposed to a work ethic, and demonstrates the importance of play as a necessary and desirable component of the comic spirit. Within a growing body of environmental literature dealing with spirituality, ethics, ecofeminism, nature writing, and alternative lifestyles, Meeker's is a one-of-a-kind book, combining elements of literary criticism, ethology, New Age thinking, and personal narrative. Full of provocative twists and turns, The Comedy of Survival is a book for literary critics, environmentalists, human ecologists, philosophers, and anthropologists. Many will find much to ponder in this clear explication of how we might become better stewards of the Earth. |
From inside the book
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Page 23
... pain and death to many who do not deserve to suffer , but they are not tragic . Genuine tragic suffering is a consequence of deliber- ate choice . Tragic figures bring on their own suffering , for they have taken a course of action that ...
... pain and death to many who do not deserve to suffer , but they are not tragic . Genuine tragic suffering is a consequence of deliber- ate choice . Tragic figures bring on their own suffering , for they have taken a course of action that ...
Page 71
... pain in search of past peace . It is never a successful quest . The emotional cycle of pastoral experience normally moves from nostalgia to hope , to disillusion- ment , to final despair . Compassion for suffering may be the most ...
... pain in search of past peace . It is never a successful quest . The emotional cycle of pastoral experience normally moves from nostalgia to hope , to disillusion- ment , to final despair . Compassion for suffering may be the most ...
Page 103
... pain and joy has not changed in the seven centuries since Dante , but the world has come to resemble Hell more than ever . Medieval Christianity provided people with a way to think about the world and to respond to its conditions as ...
... pain and joy has not changed in the seven centuries since Dante , but the world has come to resemble Hell more than ever . Medieval Christianity provided people with a way to think about the world and to respond to its conditions as ...
Contents
The Comic Way | 12 |
Tragedy and Related Disasters | 22 |
Hamlet and the Animals | 37 |
Copyright | |
4 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Comedy of Survival: Literary Ecology and a Play Ethic Joseph W. Meeker No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
Achilles action aggression basic Beatrice beautiful become belief biological birds caribou caribou mother century character comedy and play Comedy of Survival comic complex consciousness context conversation create creatures cultural dangerous Dante Dante's death E. O. Wilson Earth ecosystems environmental ethic ethology evil evolution evolutionary history evolutionary psychology experience feel Frank Fraser Darling garden Greek Guildenstern Hamlet Hell human behavior imagination Inferno infinite game instinct intellectual intelligence Karl von Frisch killing Konrad Lorenz Krull Laertes Literary Ecology literature live Lorenz means Meeker mental merely mind models modern moral order murder natural environments pain Paradise pattern picaresque picaresque novels picaro Pinker polarized Polonius Purgatory relationships response Richard Dawkins role scene Sinus Block social society souls species spiders Steven Pinker story storytelling strategy suffering symbolic things tion tradition tragic hero tragic view trans transcend unique University Press Virgil vision York Yossarian