Shadow and Shelter

The Swamp in Southern Culture

De: Anthony Wilson

Narrado por: Gary Roelofs

In Shadow and Shelter: The Swamp in Southern Culture, Anthony Wilson examines the relationship between the ecological history of the southern swamp and the evolution of southern culture from the colonial era to the present. To early European colonists, the swamp was a place linked with sin and impurity. To the plantation elite, it was a practical obstacle to agricultural development. For the many excluded from the white southern aristocracy - African Americans, Native Americans, Acadians, and poor, rural Whites - the swamp meant something very different, providing shelter and sustenance and offering separation and protection from the dominant plantation culture. This book explores the interplay of contradictory but equally prevailing metaphors: first, the swamp as the underside of the myth of pastoral Eden that defined the antebellum South; and second, the swamp as the last pure vestige of undominated southern wilderness. As the South gives in to strip malls and suburban sprawl, its wooded wetlands have come to embody the last part of the region resisting assimilation. Examining the southern swamp from a perspective informed by ecocriticism, literary studies, and ecological history, Shadow and Shelter considers the many representations of the swamp and its evolving role in an increasingly multicultural South.

The book is published by University Press of Mississippi. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2006 University Press of Mississippi (P)2021 Redwood Audiobooks

Intermediate Swamp Lore Badge Unlocked

Poetic and scenic prompt handled in an informative and detailed primer; I had more fun with it than I expected. It traces swamps in literature and eventually cinema with analysis of select works. Loaded with neat swamp examples thoughtfully deconstructed. I wasn't always convinced that the content represented a totality of Southern view about swamps but it was well researched and thoughtfully presented. Even when I was unfamiliar with the source it was easy to follow. I appreciate the historic context tying swamps into separationism, harlem renaissance, women's rights, etc. It's not a short book but I was left wishing it had even more examples and analysis because it's a-game stuff. The text suggests there is something unique about 'Southern' 'culture' but doesnt well define what Southern culture other than relative to geography or political trends (this is ok, but if anyone is into Southern 'heritage' they should be ready for more swamps and less Southern). Some of the examples like french director Jean Renoir seem like questionable examples of 'Southern.' I have always appreciated the vibe of swamps and grew up in New Orleans so vibed with the stuff here.

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall