Nature in Ireland : a scientific and cultural history / edited by John Wilson Foster and Helena C. G. Chesney.
Contributor(s): Foster, John Wilson
| Chesney, Helena C. G.
Material type: 
BookPublisher: Dublin : Lilliput Press, 1997Description: xii, 658 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 25 cm.ISBN: 1874675295 ; 1874675899.Subject(s): Nature | Natural history -- Ireland | Popular culture -- IrelandDDC classification: 508.415 | Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Lending | MTU Bishopstown Library Lending | 508.415 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 00076387 | ||
| General Lending | MTU Crawford College of Art and Design Library Lending | 508.415 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 00055125 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
How has Irish nature been studied? How has it been expressed in literature and popular culture? How has it influenced, and been influenced by, political, economic and social change? These long-neglected questions are pursued in Nature in Ireland, a pioneering collection of original essays by leading naturalists, science writers and cultural historians who bring us from the geological prehistory of the island to the environmental threats of the late twentieth century. Nature in Ireland is an indispensable reference source, containing definitive histories of Irish botany, mammalogy, entomology, fish and fisheries, geology, meteorology, ornithology, woodlands, demesnes and bogs. These essays reclaim the study of nature as a major contribution to Irish culture and a significant field of Irish studies, drawing out the links between scientific study, history, art and popular culture. Others focus on specific cultural aspects of nature in Ireland: Seán Lysaght explores the question of nomenclature in a bilingual society; Michael Viney gives a lively critical history of hunting, shooting and other field sports; Dorinda Outram examines the relationship between the standard continental models of natural history and the Irish experience; John Feehan writes of the challenges of conservation and environmentalism; J.H. Andrews presents the history of the mapping of Ireland's physical geography; David Cabot discusses the essential texts of Irish natural history; and in three magisterial essays editor John Wilson Foster traces the traditions associated with perceptions of Irish nature, elucidates the complex relationship of 'nature and nation' in the nineteenth century, and, in 'The Culture of Nature', takes us on a dazzling tour from Yeats, Wilde, Kavanagh and Heaney to the cultural implications of eco-tourism, deep ecology, genetic engineering and artificial life. The essays are accompanied by over fifty photographs, maps, paintings and engravings, which illustrate the visual culture of Irish nature. In Nature in Ireland, the disciplinary boundaries that have partitioned the study of nature are cleared away with wit, style, and scrupulous scholarship. It is a landmark publication in the study of Irish history, science and culture.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The heritage of the rocks -- Encountering traditions -- The early naturalists -- Fluctuations in fortune: three hundred years of Irish geology -- The kingdom of the air: the progress of meteorology -- Woodland in history and culture -- Botany in Ireland -- Bogland: study and utilization -- Paper landscapes: mapping Ireland's physical geography -- Insects and entomology -- Mammals and mammalogy -- Bird study in Ireland -- Fish and fisheries -- No stone unturned: Robert Lloyd Praeger and the major surveys -- Out of Ireland: naturalists abroad -- Enlightenment and education -- Darwin in Belfast: the evolution debate -- Nature and nation in the nineteenth century -- Contrasting natures: the issue of names -- The history of natural history: grand narrative or local lore? -- Essential texts in Irish natural history -- The art of nature illustration -- Wild sports and stone guns -- The natural history of Demesnes -- Threat and conservation: attitudes to nature in Ireland -- The culture of nature.
Author notes provided by Syndetics
JOHN WILSON FOSTER, the senior editor, is a native of Belfast. He is professor of English at the University of British Colombia, Canada. His books include Forces and Themes in Ulster Fiction (1974), Fictions of the Irish Literary Revival (1987), Colonial Consequences: Essays in Irish Literature and Culture (1991), The Achievement of Seamus Heaney (1995), and The Titanic Complex (1997). HELENA C.G. CHESNEY, the associate editor, is a malacologist specialising in the study of bivalve molluscs. She is Keeper of Zoology at the Ulster Museum, Belfast