Nature, Technology and Cultural Change in Twentieth-Century German Literature The Challenge of Ecocriticism

This book traces shifting attitudes towards science and technology, nature and the environment in twentieth-century Germany. It approaches them through discussion of a range of literary texts largely new to English readers, in which practical environmental problems and underlying issues of ecological ethics are brought to life in (often semi-autobiographical) narratives. It explores the philosophical influences on them and their political contexts, and asks what part novels and plays, poems and essays have played in environmental debate. Technological disasters, living in the landscape, hunting and allotment gardens are among the topics discussed.

AXEL GOODBODY graduated in German and French from Trinity College Dublin, and spent ten years teaching and pursuing postgraduate study at the University of Kiel in Germany. Since 1983 he has lectured at the University of Bath, and published widely on modern German literature and film, with a special focus on nature poetry and environmental literature.