Ecological Approaches to Early Modern English Texts: A Field Guide to Reading and Teaching eds. by Jennifer Munroe, Edward J. Geisweidt, and Lynne Bruckner (review)

Ecocriticism can appear to be lodged firmly in an existential state of anxiety that Rebecca Ann Bach has referred to as potentially 'tedious' (see Shakespeare Quarterly, 64.1 (2013), p. 113). However, this edited collection makes a concerted effort to dislodge ecocriticism from excessive navel-gazing. Editors, Jennifer Munroe, Edward J. Geisweidt, and Lynne Bruckner, have chosen to compile a large number of relatively short essays – with established ecocritics and Shakespeareans among the contributing authors – and the result is a fast-paced and diverse reading experience. The collection is divided into a 'threefold framework inclusive of theory, readings, and teaching approaches' (p. 8). Pedagogy, as the editors acknowledge, is 'a key concern for ecocritics' (p. 8), and in light of this, it is disappointing to see it relegated to a separate, final section, rather than integrated across the volume.

Section I commences with Robert N. Watson's concept of 'slant teaching', which thus immediately complicates the book's divisions. Watson argues against ecocritical teaching that uses literature as 'mere corroborating testimony' for environmental outrage (p. 28). Next is Ken Hiltner's critique of presentism and deforestation, followed by Munroe's discussion of 'ecocriticism's perpetual marginalisation of ecofeminism' and the dangers of 'speaking for' nature (p. 39). Munroe draws on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and picks up the subject of 'contact zones' (p. 41) first established in the Introduction, a concept which is under-utilised across the rest of the volume.

Section II is by far the largest, and offers a stunningly wide range of topics, from roses to slime, country house poetry to vegetarianism. The section commences with Rebecca Laroche's examination of roses in an early modern recipe collection and Shakespeare's sonnets. Following are Jessica Rosenberg's discussion of how the word 'vertue' demonstrates a shared language between poetry and plants in the early modern period (p. 61); Keith M. Botelho's exploration of the animal/human boundary in The Merchant of Venice; and Dan Brayton's use of slime to connect early modern and twenty-first-century attempts to imagine the Anthropocene (p. 81). Simon C. Estok discusses ecocriticism in relation to queer theory, meat-eating, and masculinity in Timon of Athens; the country house poems of Aemilia Lanyer and Ben Jonson are examined in two complementary essays by Louise Noble and Amy Tigner; and Edward J. Geisweidt considers population growth in Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. Section II concludes with Leah S. Marcus's discussion of the impact of the Fall on nature in Milton's Paradise Lost. Though richly varied, there appears to be little thematic coherence to this section.

Section III turns to ecological education: the contributions canvass the teaching of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina (Hillary Eklund); ecofeminism in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Lynne Bruckner); Timon of Athens (paired with Thoreau's Walden in an interesting essay by Todd A. Borlik); Paradise Lost (Mary C. Fenton); and Andrew Marvell's 'Upon Appleton House' (Jeffrey Theis). In general, this section consists largely of accounts of teaching plans and units. While interesting and illuminating in their own right – especially for anyone looking for practical examples of early modern ecocritical content – the contributions would have been enriched by greater critical engagement with pedagogical literature, and perhaps also with relevant emerging pedagogical theories, such as 'slowness' and 'weakness', for example.

Karen Raber's 'Afterword' and her discussion of 'postness' offers an invaluable consideration of the field's concerns and anxieties, and is essential reading for ecocritics and those interested in this area of study. Her recognition of overexposure to 'the crisis narrative in environmentalism' (p. 216) is vital for evaluating 'why talk of crisis often ends in paralysis' (p. 211). These concerns apply both...