Read, Sweat, Repeat

Last week’s discussion of Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman helped clarify thoughts and possible interpretations I had of the text stewing in my mind. In fact, Professor Garrett explained quite well the author’s ideas and how they reflect issues of eighteenth century British social politics. Still, despite the rough understanding, I wasn’t wholly convinced of its significance in a course deemed “Romantic Natures.” Yes, we certainly discussed the variety of ways in which the term “nature” can be interpreted, and therefore, the obvious answer to my question would be that the text points directly to the nature of man. However, I found that Wollstonecraft’s argument focused much of its weight on the power of reason and logic. They are human cognitive abilities, yes. But would those abilities be lumped into the larger classification of human nature?

So as I began the readings this week, I kept certain thoughts distant from the texts. I read, interpreted, and conceptualized, but I was hesitant to try and figure the schematics of these particular pieces’ associations with the class’s overall mission statement. I figured I would wait until Thursday to solve the puzzle. 

It was Monday when I finally got around to pulling Hutchings’s “Ecocriticism in British Romantic Studies” out of my binder, setting on the nearest treadmill (I’ve found that multitasking works best), and getting to work, hoping to finish the article within the sixty minute time limit enforced on cardio equipment during peak use hours. I was relieved to find that it was more of an introduction to the genre of ecocriticism, and more important, it focused specifically on the application of ecocriticism in British Romantic texts. I walked and walked, read and read, and to my relief, I breezed through the article, developing a sense of clarity on the connections between the assigned texts and the class objective. Also, I got a good work out.

What I found most noteworthy of Hutchings’s piece was his explanation of ecofeminism in Romantic literature, focusing on Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman as a critical response to the deep ecology philosophy “in which the ecospheric whole is understood as a contextual extension of the human self,” resulting in a consequential surrender of “critical self-reflexivity leading to political implications.” More specifically though, feminists like Wollstonecraft criticize the androcentric philosophical implications, linking the domination of nature and the subjugation of women in patriarchal society and arguing for these two processes as being “complexly linked and mutually enabling.” Therefore, what Wollstonecraft argues in her piece is not so much the rationale of logical cognitive thinking; instead, she shows the faults of irrational social conditioning established by patriarchal education. The ideas of femininity and feminine nature, she says, are merely ideological constructs and not true examples of human nature or biology.

Now having read and digested Hutchings’s article, I have a better understanding of the class’s direction this quarter. Might I suggest, should this class be offered at some other point in time, that this reading be a required assignment for the first week as opposed to a later date? In my humble opinion, I think it would help entirely with the understanding of the material and class objectives.