As the environmental crisis worsens, the time has never been more ripe for a scholarly reclamation of Ontario writer and environmental activist Wayland Drew (1932--1998), known only marginally by Canadian literary scholars for two novels: The Wabeno Feast (1973) and Halfway Man (1989). In addition to these works, Drew published a trilogy, The Erthring Cycle (1984--86), which explores environmental holocaust, and several ecological essays, travelogues, and other nonfictional works. Forming a unique genre of "evolutionary fiction" rooted in the sciences of ecology and evolution and in his intimate knowledge of traditional aboriginal land practices, Drew stands alone in the Canadian literary tradition for making the global environmental crisis the central focus of his writing. His fictional and nonfictional oeuvre launches an unremitting critique of the anthropocentric discourses of humanism and reductivist science, as well as the current debates about cultural identity politics, in the interest of highlighting the "mystery" of evolutionary and cosmological history and our responsibility, as the now-dominant species, to pursue homeostatic living in order to protect the planet for the future of all biotic life. Moreover, Drew recognizes the irony that our species is driven by instincts that, if left unchecked, ultimately may lead to biospheric ruin: human curiosity and an urge for "progress," for instance, must be restrained if we are to safeguard the future of the planet. Drew argues with a voice unique in the tradition of Canadian Literature that humans must embrace their evolutionary inconsequentiality, and nurture their connections with other lifeforms (via a philosophy of "mutual aid"), as part of a broader survival strategy. His sustained argument is that not only Western nations but all of the Earth's denizens need to undertake a radical epistemological shift if we are to survive.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29629 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Belyea, Andy |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 271 p. |
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