Abstract
Earth is the name of our planet and of an element from which we emerge. Pre-modern and non-modern traditions show us how to live at this conjunction better than many modern simulacra. This reflection examines in particular early medieval Christian tradition, set in dialogue with the emerging twenty-first-century field of ecosemiotics, while wandering from the Susquehanna Valley to Middle-earth.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
It has been suggested that ‘ducdame’ is a nonsense word, but also could mean ‘lead him to me’ (from Latin), ‘come to me’ (from Welsh), or a Gypsy term to attract customers, meaning ‘I foretell.’ It could also reference a woman (‘dame’) leading a man, which we here could interpret in terms of Mother Earth.
References
Basil of Caesarea. 1999. Hexaemeron. In The Hexaemeron, in Letters and Select Works, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, trans. B. Jackson, 2nd edn., Vol. 8, 52–107. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Brenton, S.L.C.L . 1851. The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English. London: Samuel Bagster & Sons.
Brubaker, J . 2002. Down the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University.
Burke, K . 1984. Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose, 3rd edn. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Casey, E.S . 1998. The Fate of Place, A Philosophical History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Coghill, N . 1965. The Approach to English. In Light on C. S. Lewis, ed. J. Gibb. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World.
Davenport, G . 1997. Hobbitry. In Geography of the Imagination, ed. G. Davenport, 336–338. Boston, MA: David R. Godine.
Eriugena, J.S . 1987. Periphyseon. In Cahiers d’études médiévales, Cahier special, trans. I.P. Sheldon-Williams and J.J. O’Meara, Vol. 3. Montreal, Canada: Éditions Bellarmin and Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks.
Foltz, B.V . 1995. Inhabiting the Earth: Heidegger, Environmental Ethics, and the Metaphysics of Nature. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books.
Foltz, B.V . 2012. Personal communication about B.V. Foltz, The Noetics of Nature (2013), forthcoming from Fordham University Press.
Frye, N . 1949. The Argument of Comedy. In English Institute Essays – 1948, ed. D.A. Robertson, Jr. New York: Columbia University Press.
Gregory of Nyssa. 1994. On the Making of Man. In The Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers, trans. H. Wace, Series 2, Vol.5. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Gregory of Nyssa. 1999. Commentary on the Inscriptions of the Psalms, trans. C. McCambley. Brookline, MA: Hellenic College Press.
Helprin, M . 2005. Winter's Tale. Boston, MA: Mariner.
Lampe, G.W.H . 1961. A Patristic Greek Lexicon. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, C.S . 1954. Introduction: New Learning and New Ignorance. In English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, excluding Drama. The Oxford History of English Literature, eds. B. Dobree, N. Davis, and F.P. Wilson, Vol. 3. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, C.S . 1996. That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups. New York: Scribner.
Maran, T . 2007. Towards an Integrated Methodology of Ecosemiotics: The Concept of Nature-Text. Sign Systems Studies 35 (1/2): 269–294.
Matthewes-Green, F . 2006. First Fruits of Prayer: A Forty-Day Journey through the Canon of St. Andrew, trans. K. Ware. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press.
Merleau-Ponty, M . 1970. Themes from the Lectures at the Collège de France (1952–1960), trans. J. O’Neill. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Shakespeare, W . 1992. The Complete Works of Shakespeare, ed. D. Bevington. New York: Harper Collins.
Sherrard, P . 2004. Human Image: World Image. The Death and Resurrection of Sacred Cosmology. Limni, Evia, Greece: Denise Harvey.
Thunberg, L . 1997. Man and the Cosmos: The Vision of St. Maximus the Confessor. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
Von Uexküll, J . 1982. The Theory of Meaning. Semiotica 42 (1): 25–82.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Siewers, A. Earth: A wandering. Postmedieval 4, 6–17 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/pmed.2012.44
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pmed.2012.44