Review: Magnificent Decay: Melville and Ecology, by Tom Nurmi

Abstract

Book Review| March 01 2023 Review: Magnificent Decay: Melville and Ecology, by Tom Nurmi Tom Nurmi, Magnificent Decay: Melville and Ecology. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2020. Pp. xvi + 276. $65 cloth; $32.50 paper. John Evelev John Evelev University of Missouri John Evelev is Professor of English at the University of Missouri. He is the author of Tolerable Entertainment: Melville and Professionalism in Antebellum New York (2007) and Picturesque Literature and the Transformation of the American Landscape,1835–1874 (2021). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nineteenth-Century Literature (2023) 77 (4): 256–260. https://doi.org/10.1525/ncl.2023.77.4.256 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation John Evelev; Review: Magnificent Decay: Melville and Ecology, by Tom Nurmi. Nineteenth-Century Literature 1 March 2023; 77 (4): 256–260. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ncl.2023.77.4.256 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentNineteenth-Century Literature Search Tom Nurmi’s Magnificent Decay: Melville and Ecology is an exemplary work of environmental humanities. It puts Herman Melville’s writing in dialogue with environmental science in three time frames: that of his own time, that of the science associated with the rise of “ecology” in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and that of the present-day science and theory of the Anthropocene. The book’s central claim is that Melville’s literary works explore the notion of an interconnected planetary experience in which humans cannot be separated from the mineral, plants and fungi, and even atmospheric components and processes on Earth. Although steeped in science and theory, Nurmi’s readings pay close attention to literary form, drawing attention to parallels between Melville’s distinctive style and the environmental processes with which his work engages. Although Magnificent Decay does not center on Melville’s most famous works and thus might seem aimed primarily at Melville specialists, I... You do not currently have access to this content.