Journal article
Banned in Britain: Marilynne Robinson's Environmental Literary Journalism
Literary journalism studies, Vol.11(2), pp.57-88
12/01/2019
Abstract
Although considered one of the world's most distinguished living authors for her novels, Marilynne Robinson consistently regards her relatively underappreciated, nonfictional 1989 Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State, and Nuclear Pollution as her magnum opus. Few are aware that a twenty-five-year gap (1980-2005) separated her first and second novels, during which she ardently pursued the craft of nonfiction prose. As the crowning achievement of that period, Mother Country ranks among the environmental movement's most radical works, notable for its unprecedented assault on Great Britain's nuclear program. Like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Robinson's environmental literary journalism builds on the genre's method of civic engagement. Her writing blends artfulness and moral insight and deploys a representational and discursive strategy for social critique that features shocking imagery and tropes of pastoral apocalypse. This study argues that these staples of "toxic discourse" on the effects of pollution situate Robinson with literary journalists who build upon Carson's socioenvironmental approach, which exposes the toll of rampant and unfettered industrial waste. The study is important because it highlights a largely forgotten yet invaluable contribution to environmental literary journalism. Mother Country is a work that not only elicited a major lawsuit for libel against Robinson but was also subsequently pulped and banned in Britain. Robinson's achievement stands out for its indictments of corruption on behalf of government and industry perpetrated through the media.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Banned in Britain: Marilynne Robinson's Environmental Literary Journalism
- Creators
- David O. Dowling - Univ Iowa, Sch Journalism & Mass Commun, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Literary journalism studies, Vol.11(2), pp.57-88
- Publisher
- Int Assoc Literary Journalism Studies
- ISSN
- 1944-897X
- eISSN
- 1944-8988
- Number of pages
- 32
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2019
- Academic Unit
- Journalism and Mass Communication
- Record Identifier
- 9984307553702771
Metrics
6 Record Views