Wetlands and Western Cultures

Rod Giblett is honorary associate professor of environmental humanities at Deakin University.

Wetlands and Western Cultures is a visceral and imaginative foray into the connectivities between landscape and human civilization across time. Rod Giblett gracefully traces our collective changing attitudes toward, and appropriation of, wetland ecosystems from ‘drain and reclaim’ narratives to a growing awareness of the necessity of embedding wetlands within sustainable and regenerative futures. This beautifully sculpted work serves as a reminder of the intractable relationship which exists between nature and culture with humans acting as both conduit and fabricator.

• Introduction: An Invitation for Wading into WetlandsPART 1: WETLANDS AND -OLOGIESChapter 1: Theology of Wetlands: Tolkien, Beowulf, and Milton on Marshes and Their MonstersChapter 2: Psychology of Wetlands: Mourning, Melancholy, and MarshesPART II: WETLANDS, ART, AND CULTUREChapter 3: Wetland Cultures of the English Fens: Politics, Painting, Poetry, Prose, and Art HistoryChapter 4: Wetland Cultures of ‘Australia Felix’: From Mountain Ranges and Landscape Painting to Wetland Places in Environmental ArtworkChapter 5: Wetland Cultures of ‘Western Australia Felix’: From Mountain Range and Landscape Aesthetics to Wetland Womb in Environmental ArtworkPART III: WETLANDS AND CITIES Chapter 6: The Birth of Sydney and the Death of its WetlandsChapter 7: Water in Urban Waterscapes and Wetlands in London and MelbournePART IV: WETLANDS AND NATURE WRITINGChapter 8: Henry David Thoreau: The Patron Saint of SwampsChapter 9: Farewell: Nature writing and Black Swan Lake