Motywy fauny i flory w literaturze i kulturze. Analecta Literackie i Językowe, tom IX
The Motifs of Fauna and Flora in Literature and Culture. Literary and Language Analects, vol. 9

Contributor(s): Michał Kuran (Editor)
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology, Human Ecology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: animals in mythology; fauna and flora in literature and culture; mimicry in literature; ecological humanities
Summary/Abstract: From a scientific point of view, the publication should be assessed as a successful and valuable series of literary and cultural studies on the general phenomenon of mimicry in literature and other areas of art (with numerous references to zoology, botany, geography, ethnology and anthropology). Fauna and flora are treated here as natural phenomena on the one hand, and on the other as a reference point for determining the human condition through the use of proven instruments (exempla, heraldry, bestiaries, “cloister garths” poems collections, etc.). Works on the subject prove that insightful observation of the world of flora and fauna can well have a culture-forming function. In this approach, literary material becomes an exponent of an unconventional view of nature (both native and exotic), an interesting attempt to go beyond the stereotypical perception of animals and plants in various cultural circles. I would describe the methodological assumptions as hermeneutic inquiries within ecological humanities. They come down to searching for various meanings given to fauna and flora in literary works (or, broadly speaking, in cultural references). … In most perspectives, the animal and plant kingdom has been recognized as a phenomenological category, which allowed researchers to focus not only on the view and description, but also on exploring hidden meanings. At the time when more and more attention is being paid to the role of ecology in the life of societies and to the urgent need for respecting its principles, there is also an increasing demand for ecological humanities. This volume meets therefore current social expectations.

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