Ornithologies of Desire: Ecocritical Essays, Avian Poetics, and Don McKay
3/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
‘Shades of pause / and spill’: Homing, Flying, Falling
Travis V. Mason
Continues to follow the efforts of the Birder-Critic, this time focusing on the genre of the Field Guide as it pertains to experience and to the practice of writing poetry.
Travis V. Mason
Travis V. Mason teaches ecocriticism and postcolonial and Canadian literatures. He received both a Mellon and Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship. He is the author of Ornithologies of Desire: Ecocritical Essays, Avian Poetics, and Don McKay (WLU Press, 2013).
Related to Ornithologies of Desire
Titles in the series (12)
Moving Environments: Affect, Emotion, Ecology, and Film Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ornithologies of Desire: Ecocritical Essays, Avian Poetics, and Don McKay Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Avatar and Nature Spirituality Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Found in Alberta: Environmental Themes for the Anthropocene Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSustaining the West: Cultural Responses to Canadian Environments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTechnonatures: Environments, Technologies, Spaces, and Places in the Twenty-first Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsdownstream: reimagining water Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEcologies of the Moving Image: Cinema, Affect, Nature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Active Grounds: Agency and Time in the Environmental Humanities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnimal Subjects 2.0 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWriting in Dust: Reading the Prairie Environmentally Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEcologies of Affect: Placing Nostalgia, Desire, and Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Criticism For You
The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/512 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Behold a Pale Horse: by William Cooper | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Circe: by Madeline Miller | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killers of the Flower Moon: by David Grann | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Virtues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5SUMMARY Of The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.by Brené Brown | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Letters to a Young Poet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Habit: by Charles Duhigg | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Reader’s Companion to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Ornithologies of Desire
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Travis V. Mason’s Ornithologies of Desire is an in-depth look at the writing of Canadian poet-critic-essayist Don McKay. But rather than a straightforward textual reading of McKay’s works, Mason uses McKay’s love of birds and ornithology to create a eco-critical lens through which to examine McKay.Mason’s dual perspective of the bird as a natural object and a grand metaphor allows the reader a deeper understanding of McKay’s poems. While I’ve never actually read any of McKay’s work before now, I was immediately taken by his cutting language, not crude but rather precise in its examination of the poetic moment. As an avid birdwatcher, McKay was very observant of how each bird existed in nature as a single entity but still related to the whole environment. Much is the same with his poetry—each reference to a bird is chosen with exacting precision and allows for richer readings. Mason includes an appendix of every bird mentioned in McKay’s writings and where to find them (in case you were looking for something specific).Mason also includes a rather interesting feature in this text. Every couple of chapters, there is an interlude in which a birder-critic is imagined and their relationship to McKay’s work is examined. These make for intriguing thought experiments in a sea of otherwise dense criticism. Now, a long time ago, I was an English major so I have some chops when presented with this kind of book, but it’s not for the general public. Mason’s done his homework and makes some very interesting observations about McKay’s work, from the nature of flight in poetics to McKay’s use of birdsong. Anyone who reads this for fun, however, probably needs to have both their head and their definition of fun examined. Better to go directly to McKay’s works and find something beautiful than read about someone talking about reading. If you’re a lit crit freak, though, don’t let me stop you from diving in.