2.3.1 REACCIONES EN MICROONDAS

The thesis will examine Hass’s early collections—Field Guide, Praise, Human Wishes, and Sun Under Wood. The four collections create a discrete body of work concerned with nature, representation, and language. An overview of previous critical responses to Hass’s work will be woven throughout the discussion in chapter two.

Hass’s work explicitly engages with “nature,” and because of this, is a firm contender to be examined using ecocriticism. Furthermore, an ecocritical lens provides a clear framework within which to work, places my reading within a current critical context, and allows me to draw on the previous work of other ecocritics. The thesis will use a third-wave ecocritical approach that combines definitions from evolutionary biology with performativity. Such an approach aligns my investigation with accepted scientific thought and current ecocritical practice. As shown through the examples cited in this introduction, an evolutionary approach originated in second-wave ecocriticism, but third-wave ecocritics also aim to break down the binaries that exist between nature and culture, which can be achieved, in part, using an

evolutionary biological definition of “nature.” As I am not an expert in the field of evolutionary biology (nor, like Elder, have an expert at my disposal), to use anything but the most widely accepted theories from evolutionary biology would be to invite misrepresentation, which is a common criticism of second-wave ecocritics. Therefore, this thesis will provide a reading based on the accepted idea—as discussed previously—that humans are subject to evolution

informed by theory” (554). Chandler cites Louise Westling’s work that “examines the linguistic nature of the boundary between humans and the billions of other organisms with which we share the planet” (554); David Wood’s essay “What Is Eco-phenomenology?”(554–5); and his own approach using the theories of German philosopher, Gernot Böhme.

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(Goldsmith, Zimmerman 1; 19), and that “all organisms on Earth are related. The human lineage is a small twig on the branch of the tree of life that constitutes all animals. This means that, in a biological sense, humans are animals” (“Misconceptions of Evolution”).

Specifically, chapter two examines the techniques and strategies Hass deploys, often explicitly and self-consciously, to depict the natural world in his poems. For example, his techniques include the use of scientifically accurate names and descriptions as a way to try to realistically depict the natural world (in particular the Californian landscape). I will show that such a depiction suggests that Hass views the natural world as knowable, particular, valuable, and worthy of attention. While the use of names and particulars implies that Hass trusts biological and specific language to represent the natural world, I further argue that Hass’s second technique—that of drawing comparisons between human and nonhuman behaviour, which depicts humans as animals—also implies that some experiences exist outside of language. In short, Hass’s depiction of nature suggests that we are both part of nature, but separated from other animals by language, rational thought, and self-awareness.

Hass continues to explore the limitations of language through a third strategy, that of explicitly drawing attention to the interpretive nature of names and descriptions, for example the way names carry personal and historical meanings, and how those interpretations vary for each person. Through this strategy, I argue, Hass implies that descriptions of the natural world are individual and culturally constructed, rather than representative. By suggesting language is often insufficient—that the relationship between language and nature is more complicated than representationalism would suggest—Hass calls into question his own depictions of nature.

The second part of my reading will use a performative approach. Similar to other third- wave approaches, performativity allows me to examine the way meaning is contextual and constructed, and whether those constructions have ethical implications. While a second-wave approach could also examine such an idea—for example, Easterlin’s argument that

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approaches is to contextualise textual depictions of nature within the theories of evolutionary biology—that is, to link the text with the physical world. Instead, performativity allows me to examine the aspects of Hass’s poems that have a textual rather than representative purpose. In other words, while Hass’s depiction of nature always refers (albeit imperfectly) to a physical reality, and it is widely agreed that the physical reality is subject to evolution, some of his strategies have the primary purpose of making a statement about poetry, rather than attempting to represent the natural world. This difference in focus signals one of the key distinctions between the approaches of second- and third-wave ecocriticism.

Drawing from Barad’s theory of post-humanist performativity (with a focus on her epistemological approach), I will perform a close reading of Hass’s poetry using the following questions: How do Hass’s poems suggest poetry as performative phenomena? What do his assertions imply about the relationship between poetry and the natural world? As with other third-wave approaches, my reading has implicit environmental goals as it draws attention to the ethical themes, where present, that arise from my investigation into the techniques and

strategies Hass uses to depict nature.

Specifically, the thesis will show that Hass uses a fourth technique, that of qualifying language—that is, language that makes a statement less absolute—to refute the authority of his own, often figurative, descriptions of nature, and his techniques of naming and particularisation. While this technique also implies that poetic description is constructed rather than

representative, Hass’s self-conscious use of qualifying language also suggests his discomfort at describing the nonhuman world figuratively. I will argue that Hass’s simultaneous use and explicit refusal of poetic technique allows the poem itself to become an object of inquiry—that is, the poem becomes a form of phenomenon in the performative sense; the knowledge it produces materialises from Hass’s inquiry into his own descriptions of the natural world. Through his exploration Hass suggests that we often mistake our constructions of nature as knowledge about the natural world, an assertion that has ethical implications.

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Hass’s technique of qualifying language sits in tension with and contradicts the goals that motivate his other strategies of naming and particularisation of description. The thesis will argue that, instead of resolving the tension created by both his use and refusal of poetic strategy, Hass uses the tension and the theme of loss as a strategy to enact the complex relationship between poetry and the natural world—that Hass’s depiction of nature becomes a statement about poetry. The thesis will conclude that Hass’s depiction of nature ultimately asserts we should put issues of representation aside in order to take pleasure in the experience of poetry.

While the main goal of the critical essay is to examine the techniques and strategies Hass uses to depict “nature,” the thesis conclusion will briefly reflect on whether this particular ecocritical approach was valuable for such an investigation. While the purpose of the critical essay is, on the one hand, to address a gap in the critical literature about Hass, my investigation also has a specific craft focus. It is the combination of Hass’s techniques and strategies that attracted me to Hass’s poetry and have guided the approach taken by the critical essay—that is, my third-wave approach allows a close investigation of Hass’s techniques and strategies, and, in turn, informs the creative component of the thesis. Due to the methodology’s specific focus, is not intended to be an approach suitable for all third-wave ecocritical investigations.

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