Insect Poetics

Insects are everywhere. There are millions of species sharing the world withhumans and other animals. Though literally woven into the fabric of humanaffairs ins... » 

Insects are everywhere. There are millions of species sharing the world withhumans and other animals. Though literally woven into the fabric of humanaffairs insects are considered alien from the human world. Animal studies andrights have become a fecund field but for the most part scant attention hasbeen paid to the relationship between insects and humans. Insect Poeticsredresses that imbalance by welcoming insects into the world of letters andcultural debate. In Insect Poetics the first book to comprehensivelyexplore the cultural and textual meanings of bugs editor Eric Brown arguesthat insects are humanitys other. In order to be experienced the insectworld must be mediated by art or technology as in the case of an ant farm orKafkas Metamorphoses while humans observe detached and fascinated. Ineighteen original essays this book illuminates the ways in which our humanintellectual and cultural models have been influenced by the natural history ofinsects. Through critical readings contributors address such topics asperforming insects in Shakespeares Coriolanus the cockroach in thecontemporary American novel the butterflys voyage out in Virginia Woolfand images of insect eating in literature and popular culture. In surprisingways contributors tease out the particularities of insects as culturalsignifiers and propose ways of thinking about insectivity suggesting fertilecrosspollinations between entomology and the arts between insects and thehumanities. Contributors May Berenbaum Yves Cambefort Marion W.Copeland Nicky Coutts Bertrand Gervais Sarah Gordon CristopherHollingsworth Heather Johnson Richard J.Leskosky Tony McGowan Erika MaeOlbricht Marc Olivier Roy Rosenstein Rachel Sarsfield Charlotte SleighAndre Stipanovic. Eric C. Brown is assistant professor of English at theUniversity of Maine at Farmington. He has written previously about insects andeschatology in «