Beyond Boundaries: Ecological Assemblage in The Country of the Pointed Firs
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Employing assemblage theory, this article furthers the ecocriticism of Jewett’s works by exploring the complex ecological network of humans, the natural environment, and nonhumans created in The Country of the Pointed Firs. This article argues that the novel dismantles traditional dichotomies, such as culture/nature, self/outer environment, and human/nonhuman, and presents these categories as part of a dynamic, interconnected ecological assemblage. The analysis examines three aspects of the assemblage in the novel: first, the assemblage of nature and culture; second, the assemblage of human and nonhuman; and third, the dynamics, contingencies, and uncertainties of the ecological assemblage. This study concludes that though written at the end of the 19th century, The Country of the Pointed Firs anticipates contemporary ideas of assemblage theory, demonstrating its enduring relevance to contemporary ecocritical discourse.
Source: Literature
Author: Hui Lyu
Institution: China Foreign Affairs University
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,207
OpenAlex ID: W4407583752