Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING

Year 2021, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 40 - 59, 23.04.2021

Abstract

Nan Shepherd (1893- 1981), a Scottish author and nature lover, entered the literary scene with her novels Quary Wood (1928), The Weatherhouse (1930) and A Pass in the Grampians (1933) that focused on the effects of modernity on Scottish rural life and contributed to the intellectual movement known as Scottish renaissance. However, it is because of her 1977 memoir, The Living Mountain that she has gained popularity in recent years. In this mountain memoir, Shepherd shares her impressions about the years she spent hiking in the Cairngorms, a national park in Scotland. The Living Mountain can be seen as a pioneering work for its age due to Shepherd’s deep interest in the non-human animals as well as the natural elements in the mountain range, her narrative which is not centred on a human but shaped around the non-human, her sensitivity to anthropogenic ecological problems and the importance she attached to writing about her bodily sensations and emotions as well as objective observations during her hikes. The purpose of this study is to analyse The Living Mountain considering Shepherd’s alleged non-anthropocentrism, ecological sensitivity and amalgamation of subjective response with objective observations. This study claims that Shepherd’s memoir can be read as a forerunner of twenty-first century nature writing, which some ecocritics like Jason Cowley and Alexander J. B. Hampton prefer to call as “new nature writing”. Twenty-first century nature writing in Britain is supposedly marked by writers’ ecological awareness, their efforts to create non-anthropocentric narratives and the importance they attach to their subjective experiences in nature in addition to objective observations. This paper discusses how Shepherd managed to integrate these characteristics into her writing, which can inspire and guide the new generation writers as they tend to show a non-anthropocentric reaction to the current ecological crisis in their own ways.

References

  • A new literary prize for underrepresented voices in nature writing. (n.d). The Nan Shepherd Prize. https://nanshepherdprize.com/
  • About Nan Shepherd. (n.d.). The Nan Shepherd Prize. https://nanshepherdprize.com/about-nan/
  • Beaufils, C. (2018). Nature Writing and Publishing: The Ethics of a Cultural Mapping. Études britanniques contemporaines, 55, https://doi.org/10.4000/ebc.5011
  • Bell, E. (2014). Into the centre of things: poetic travel narratives in the work of Kathleen Jamie and Nan Shepherd. In R. Falconer (Ed.), Kathleen Jamie: Essays and Poems on her Work (pp. 126-134). Edinburgh University Press.
  • Bunting, M. (2007, July 30). We need an attentiveness to nature to understand our own humanity. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jul/30/comment.bookscomment
  • Canton, J. (2012). Untangling British Nature Writing. Earthlines, 1, 12-15. Retrieved September 2, 2020, from file:///C:/Users/Pc/Downloads/JamesCantonproofspreads2.pdf
  • Clark, T. (2011). The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment. Cambridge,
  • Cowley, J. (2008). The New Nature Writing. Granta, 102, 7-12.
  • Garrard, G. (2004). Ecocriticism: The New Critical Idiom. Routledge.
  • Hampton, A.J.B. (2018). Post-Secular Nature and the New Nature Writing. Christianity & Literature, 67 (3), 454–471, https://doi.org/10.1177/0148333117735878
  • Hubbard, P., &Wilkinson, E. (2019). Walking a Lonely Path: Gender, Landscape and ‘New Nature Writing’. Cultural Geographies, 26(2), 253–261, https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474018811663
  • Hutchings, K. (2007). Ecocriticism in British Romantic Studies. Literature Compass, 4(1), 172-202. doi:10.1111/j.1741-4113.2006.00417.x
  • Iovino, S. & Oppermann, S. (2012). Material Ecocriticism: Materiality, Agency, and Models of Narrativity. Ecozone@, 3(1), 75-91. https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2012.3.1.452
  • Johson J. & Howley C. (2000). “The Country and the City” by Raymon Williams. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 16(2), 146-51. Retrieved September 2, 2020 from https://www.jrre.psu.edu/articles/v16,n2,p146-151,Williams.pdf
  • Leopold, A. (1949). The Land Ethic. In Carolyn, R. (Ed.), 1995, Writing Nature: An Ecological Reader for Writer, (pp. 431-448). St. Martin’s Press.
  • Lilley, D. (2017). New British Nature Writing. Oxford Handbooks Online, 1-18 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935338.013.155
  • Lyall, S. (2019). The Living Mountain: in an age of ecological crisis, Nan Shepherd’s nature writing is more relevant than ever.The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-living-mountain-in-an-age-of-ecological-crisis-nan-shepherds-nature-writing-is-more-relevant-than-ever-119794
  • Mabey, R. (2013, July 18). In Defence of Nature Writing. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/18/richard-mabey-defence-nature-writing?CMP=share_btn_link
  • Macfarlane, R. (2015, September 2). Why we need nature writing. New Statesman. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/nature/2015/09/robert-macfarlane-why-we-need-nature-writing
  • Macfarlane, R. (2003, December 6). Call of the Wild. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/dec/06/featuresreviews.guardianreview34?CMP=share_btn_link
  • Macfarlane, R. (2005, March 26). Only connect. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/26/featuresreviews.guardianreview33
  • Macfarlane, R. (2011). Introduction. In Shepherd, N., The Living Mountain (pp. ix-xxxiv). Canongate.
  • Macfarlane, R. (2013). New words on the wild. Nature, 498, 166-167. https://doi.org/10.1038/498166a
  • Matless, D. (2009). Nature voices. Journal of Historical Geography, 35(1), 178-188. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhg.2008.12.012
  • Moran, J. (2014). A Cultural History of New Nature Writing. Literature&History, 23(1), 49-63, https://doi.org/10.7227/LH.23.1.4
  • Peacock, C. (n.d). Nan Shepherd books. https://nanshepherdprize.com/about-nan/
  • Ramos, I.P. (2012, October 6). Interview with Richard Kerridge. Ecozon@, 3(2), 135-144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2012.3.2.477
  • Schleicher, K. (1989). Beyond Environmental Education: The Need for Ecological Awareness. International Review of Education, 35(3), 257-281. Retrieved September 2, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3444725
  • Shepherd, N. (2011). The Living Mountain. 1977. Canongate.
  • Smith, J. (2012). An Archipelagic Environment: Rewriting the British and Irish Landscape, 1972-2012. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Exeter]. https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/8183/SmithJ.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y
  • Smith, J. (2013). An archipelagic literature: re-framing ‘The New Nature Writing. Green Letters, 2013, 17(1), 5-15, https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2012.750840
  • Stenning A. & Gifford, T. (2013). Twentieth-century nature writing in Britain and Ireland. Green Letters, 17 (1), 1-4, https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2012.750839
  • The Land Ethic. (n.d.). The Aldo Leopold Foundation. https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/the-land-ethic/
  • Williams, R. (1973). The Country and The City. Oxford University Press.

NAN SHEPHERD’IN THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977) İSİMLİ ESERİ: YİRMİ BİRİNCİ YÜZYIL BRİTANYA DOĞA YAZINININ ÖNCÜSÜ

Year 2021, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 40 - 59, 23.04.2021

Abstract

İskoç yazar (1893- 1981) ve doğa aşığı Nan Shepherd, İskoç Rönesansı olarak bilinen entelektüel akıma katkıda bulunan ve modernitenin İskoç kırsal yaşamındaki etkileri üzerine yazdığı The Quary Wood (1928), The Weatherhouse (1930) ve A Pass in the Grampians (1933) isimli romanlarıyla edebiyat sahnesine çıksa da yazarın son yıllarda kazandığı popülaritenin asıl kaynağı 1977’de basılan The Living Mountain isimli eseridir. Yazar, bir hatırat olarak değerlendirebileceğimiz bu eserinde, İskoç milli parkları arasında yer alan The Cairngorms dağlarında geçirdiği yıllara ilişkin izlenimlerini paylaşmaktadır. Yazarın dağda yaşayan insan dışı canlılara ve dağı oluşturan elementlere olan yoğun ilgisi, tek başına insanı odağına almayan ve insan olmayan varlıklar etrafında şekillenen anlatımı, insanın sebep olabileceği ekolojik sorunlara yönelik hassasiyeti ve dağda geçirdiği zaman boyunca objektif gözlemlerinin yanı sıra bedensel ve duygusal olarak neler hissettiğini yazmaya verdiği önem düşünüldüğünde, The Living Mountain kendi çağına göre öncü sayılabilecek bir doğa yazını örneğidir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, The Living Mountain’ı Shepherd’ın insan odaklı olmayan yaklaşımı, ekolojik hassasiyeti ve sübjektif tepkileri özelinde inceleyerek eserin 21. yüzyıl Britanya doğa yazınına yakınlığını ortaya koymaktır. Jason Cowley ve Alexander J. B. Hampton gibi bazı eleştirmenlerce “yeni doğa yazını” olarak da isimlendirilen 21. yüzyıl Britanya doğa yazınının, yazarların çevresel kriz konusunda sahip olduğu farkındalık, insan olmayan varlıklar için bir anlatı yaratma çabası ve bunu yaparken anlatılarına sübjektif deneyimlerini dâhil etmeye verdiği önemle kendi çizgisini yaratmakta olduğu iddia edilebilir. Bu çalışmada, içinde bulunduğumuz ekolojik krize insan merkezli olmayan bir şekilde tepki göstermek isteyen yeni dönem yazarlar için hem bir ilham kaynağı hem de bir rehber olarak görülebilecek bu eserinde Shepherd’ın bu çizgiyi nasıl yakaladığı tartışılmaktadır.

References

  • A new literary prize for underrepresented voices in nature writing. (n.d). The Nan Shepherd Prize. https://nanshepherdprize.com/
  • About Nan Shepherd. (n.d.). The Nan Shepherd Prize. https://nanshepherdprize.com/about-nan/
  • Beaufils, C. (2018). Nature Writing and Publishing: The Ethics of a Cultural Mapping. Études britanniques contemporaines, 55, https://doi.org/10.4000/ebc.5011
  • Bell, E. (2014). Into the centre of things: poetic travel narratives in the work of Kathleen Jamie and Nan Shepherd. In R. Falconer (Ed.), Kathleen Jamie: Essays and Poems on her Work (pp. 126-134). Edinburgh University Press.
  • Bunting, M. (2007, July 30). We need an attentiveness to nature to understand our own humanity. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jul/30/comment.bookscomment
  • Canton, J. (2012). Untangling British Nature Writing. Earthlines, 1, 12-15. Retrieved September 2, 2020, from file:///C:/Users/Pc/Downloads/JamesCantonproofspreads2.pdf
  • Clark, T. (2011). The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment. Cambridge,
  • Cowley, J. (2008). The New Nature Writing. Granta, 102, 7-12.
  • Garrard, G. (2004). Ecocriticism: The New Critical Idiom. Routledge.
  • Hampton, A.J.B. (2018). Post-Secular Nature and the New Nature Writing. Christianity & Literature, 67 (3), 454–471, https://doi.org/10.1177/0148333117735878
  • Hubbard, P., &Wilkinson, E. (2019). Walking a Lonely Path: Gender, Landscape and ‘New Nature Writing’. Cultural Geographies, 26(2), 253–261, https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474018811663
  • Hutchings, K. (2007). Ecocriticism in British Romantic Studies. Literature Compass, 4(1), 172-202. doi:10.1111/j.1741-4113.2006.00417.x
  • Iovino, S. & Oppermann, S. (2012). Material Ecocriticism: Materiality, Agency, and Models of Narrativity. Ecozone@, 3(1), 75-91. https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2012.3.1.452
  • Johson J. & Howley C. (2000). “The Country and the City” by Raymon Williams. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 16(2), 146-51. Retrieved September 2, 2020 from https://www.jrre.psu.edu/articles/v16,n2,p146-151,Williams.pdf
  • Leopold, A. (1949). The Land Ethic. In Carolyn, R. (Ed.), 1995, Writing Nature: An Ecological Reader for Writer, (pp. 431-448). St. Martin’s Press.
  • Lilley, D. (2017). New British Nature Writing. Oxford Handbooks Online, 1-18 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935338.013.155
  • Lyall, S. (2019). The Living Mountain: in an age of ecological crisis, Nan Shepherd’s nature writing is more relevant than ever.The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-living-mountain-in-an-age-of-ecological-crisis-nan-shepherds-nature-writing-is-more-relevant-than-ever-119794
  • Mabey, R. (2013, July 18). In Defence of Nature Writing. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/18/richard-mabey-defence-nature-writing?CMP=share_btn_link
  • Macfarlane, R. (2015, September 2). Why we need nature writing. New Statesman. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/nature/2015/09/robert-macfarlane-why-we-need-nature-writing
  • Macfarlane, R. (2003, December 6). Call of the Wild. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/dec/06/featuresreviews.guardianreview34?CMP=share_btn_link
  • Macfarlane, R. (2005, March 26). Only connect. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/26/featuresreviews.guardianreview33
  • Macfarlane, R. (2011). Introduction. In Shepherd, N., The Living Mountain (pp. ix-xxxiv). Canongate.
  • Macfarlane, R. (2013). New words on the wild. Nature, 498, 166-167. https://doi.org/10.1038/498166a
  • Matless, D. (2009). Nature voices. Journal of Historical Geography, 35(1), 178-188. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhg.2008.12.012
  • Moran, J. (2014). A Cultural History of New Nature Writing. Literature&History, 23(1), 49-63, https://doi.org/10.7227/LH.23.1.4
  • Peacock, C. (n.d). Nan Shepherd books. https://nanshepherdprize.com/about-nan/
  • Ramos, I.P. (2012, October 6). Interview with Richard Kerridge. Ecozon@, 3(2), 135-144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2012.3.2.477
  • Schleicher, K. (1989). Beyond Environmental Education: The Need for Ecological Awareness. International Review of Education, 35(3), 257-281. Retrieved September 2, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3444725
  • Shepherd, N. (2011). The Living Mountain. 1977. Canongate.
  • Smith, J. (2012). An Archipelagic Environment: Rewriting the British and Irish Landscape, 1972-2012. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Exeter]. https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/8183/SmithJ.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y
  • Smith, J. (2013). An archipelagic literature: re-framing ‘The New Nature Writing. Green Letters, 2013, 17(1), 5-15, https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2012.750840
  • Stenning A. & Gifford, T. (2013). Twentieth-century nature writing in Britain and Ireland. Green Letters, 17 (1), 1-4, https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2012.750839
  • The Land Ethic. (n.d.). The Aldo Leopold Foundation. https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/the-land-ethic/
  • Williams, R. (1973). The Country and The City. Oxford University Press.
There are 34 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Hatice Bakanlar Mutlu 0000-0002-9713-0586

Publication Date April 23, 2021
Submission Date September 3, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 8 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Bakanlar Mutlu, H. (2021). NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 8(1), 40-59.
AMA Bakanlar Mutlu H. NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. April 2021;8(1):40-59.
Chicago Bakanlar Mutlu, Hatice. “NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING”. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 8, no. 1 (April 2021): 40-59.
EndNote Bakanlar Mutlu H (April 1, 2021) NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 8 1 40–59.
IEEE H. Bakanlar Mutlu, “NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING”, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 40–59, 2021.
ISNAD Bakanlar Mutlu, Hatice. “NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING”. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 8/1 (April 2021), 40-59.
JAMA Bakanlar Mutlu H. NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. 2021;8:40–59.
MLA Bakanlar Mutlu, Hatice. “NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING”. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 8, no. 1, 2021, pp. 40-59.
Vancouver Bakanlar Mutlu H. NAN SHEPHERD’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN (1977): A FORERUNNER OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH NATURE WRITING. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. 2021;8(1):40-59.