Major American nature writing from Emerson to Annie Dillard reveals a gradual shift in viewpoint about man’s place in nature. On the one hand, Emerson views man in nature as the locus of being, a “Lord of Creation,” who, by turning nature into symbol, continually recreates his world. By perceiving spiritual facts in natural facts, Emerson creates a world of oneness, beauty, and moral order. In symbolizing nature, however, Emerson, in effect, mythologizes it; that is, Emerson's nature becomes the world in his image.
On the other hand, Annie Dillard, carrying the added “burden” of science, finds it impossible to be a “Lord of Creation.” For Dillard, to symbolize nature as Emerson does means to repress, or ignore, those things in nature which cast shadows on its moral order. She finds “implacable realities” in nature that cannot be swept aside by stating lamely that everything works toward good. In writing about these realities, Dillard demythologizes Emerson's nature. Yet, Dillard still achieves “being” by becoming the “Witness” of nature.
This dissertation traces the shift from “Lord” to “Witness” in four American nature writers: Emerson, Thoreau, John Burroughs, and Dillard. Rather than focusing primarily on their acts of perception to delineate this shift, however, this study also looks at the “questions” these writers bring to nature. All four writers treat nature as a kind of oracle, someone to go to and ask questions of, in order to receive, in turn, a cryptic answer that must be decoded to find truth. Indeed, asking questions of nature lies at the heart of the mythologizing and demythologizing process.
This dissertation contains five chapters. The first chapter establishes the genre and discusses the philosophical issues involved in nature writing. Chapter Two focuses on Emerson's Nature as both cosmology and mythology. Chapter Three shows Thoreau's mythological world tottering – at least temporarily – as he climbs Mt. Ktaadn and travels around Cape Cod. Chapter Four describes Burrough's efforts to “de-anthropomorphize” nature. Chapter Five shows Annie Dillard finding meaning in nature through the “paradox,” a kind of replacement for Emerson’s “symbol” and Burrough’s “analog.”