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Plant Poetics
Literary Forms and Functions of the Vegetal
Series: - Critical Plant Studies, Volume: 10
Plant Poetics explores the forms and functions of the vegetal across a broad body of literature. From Homer to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and from Jamaica Kincaid to Esther Kinsky, the contributions to this volume trace plants in literary works from around the world. Based on nuanced theoretical and historical groundwork, these readings bring together interdisciplinary perspectives on literary and cultural plant studies. The volume shows how vegetal beings have impacted the ways humans think about narrative time, genre, and writing as a literary practice. Plant Poetics illustrates the capacity of plants to make (literary) worlds and shape their forms.
Joela Jacobs is Associate Professor of German Studies at the University of Arizona and maintains the Literary and Cultural Plant Studies Network. She works in plant and animal studies, environmental humanities, Jewish studies, the history of sexuality and of science.
Isabel Kranz is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She is currently completing a monograph about plants as figures of knowledge from 1700 to 2000 and co-editing a handbook on cultural theory and the vegetal.
Solvejg Nitzke is Interim Professor for Comparative Literature at Ruhr-University Bochum. Her publications range from catastrophes and climate to village fiction. Her book Making Kin with Trees: A Cultural Poetics of Interspecies Care will appear in 2025.
Isabel Kranz is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She is currently completing a monograph about plants as figures of knowledge from 1700 to 2000 and co-editing a handbook on cultural theory and the vegetal.
Solvejg Nitzke is Interim Professor for Comparative Literature at Ruhr-University Bochum. Her publications range from catastrophes and climate to village fiction. Her book Making Kin with Trees: A Cultural Poetics of Interspecies Care will appear in 2025.
Figures
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
âJoela Jacobs, Isabel Kranz, and Solvejg Nitzke
1 âImagine a Green Plant Shooting Up from Its Rootâ: Goetheâs Vegetal Poetics
âMichael Bies
2 Towards a Literary Botanical Approach: Katrina Kaldaâs The Country of Trees without Shadows
âRachel Bouvet, Stephanie Posthumus, and Noémie Dubé
3 Tree Trunks in Motion: âCinematic Styleâ and Plant Poetics in Alfred Döblinâs âMurder of a Buttercupâ and Mountains Oceans Giants
âOliver Völker
4 The Deep Time of Life: Narrative Speed as Expression of Arboreal Time Scales in Richard Powersâs The Overstory
âEva Axer
5 From Tree Talk to Forest Thinking: Richard Powersâs The Overstory and Annie Proulxâs Barkskins
âSusan McHugh
6 Writing Trees and Chasing Spirits: Marion Poschmannâs and Esther Kinskyâs Third Nature Poetics
âHelga G. Braunbeck
7 When Plants Attack: Ancient Sallies in the War on Weeds
âRebecca Armstrong
8 The Poetics of Plants: Performing Speech, Performing Self, Performing Green
âAndrée-Anne Kekeh-Dika
9 Vegetal Art and Activism in Frans Krajcbergâs Sculptures
âPatrÃcia Vieira
Index
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
âJoela Jacobs, Isabel Kranz, and Solvejg Nitzke
part 1: Vegetal Forms
1 âImagine a Green Plant Shooting Up from Its Rootâ: Goetheâs Vegetal Poetics
âMichael Bies
2 Towards a Literary Botanical Approach: Katrina Kaldaâs The Country of Trees without Shadows
âRachel Bouvet, Stephanie Posthumus, and Noémie Dubé
3 Tree Trunks in Motion: âCinematic Styleâ and Plant Poetics in Alfred Döblinâs âMurder of a Buttercupâ and Mountains Oceans Giants
âOliver Völker
part 2: Arboreal Poetics
4 The Deep Time of Life: Narrative Speed as Expression of Arboreal Time Scales in Richard Powersâs The Overstory
âEva Axer
5 From Tree Talk to Forest Thinking: Richard Powersâs The Overstory and Annie Proulxâs Barkskins
âSusan McHugh
6 Writing Trees and Chasing Spirits: Marion Poschmannâs and Esther Kinskyâs Third Nature Poetics
âHelga G. Braunbeck
part 3: Plant Potentials
7 When Plants Attack: Ancient Sallies in the War on Weeds
âRebecca Armstrong
8 The Poetics of Plants: Performing Speech, Performing Self, Performing Green
âAndrée-Anne Kekeh-Dika
9 Vegetal Art and Activism in Frans Krajcbergâs Sculptures
âPatrÃcia Vieira
Index
This book is relevant for humanities scholars from all disciplines, working on plants around the world, especially with a focus on literature and culture.