The Language of Plants: Science, Philosophy, Literature ed. by Monica Gagliano, John R. Ryan, Patricia Vieira

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Language of Plants: Science, Philosophy, Literature ed. by Monica Gagliano, John R. Ryan, Patricia Vieira Benjamin Vogt, PhD The Language of Plants: Science, Philosophy, Literature. Edited by Monica Gagliano, John R. Ryan, and Patricia Vieira. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017. vii + 302 pp. Figures, contributors, index. $30.00 paper. If we’re going to revive a passion, love, and stewardship for this world, we’re going to need new ways of speaking with that world—and in understanding how it speaks with itself. This anthology of thoughtful essays ultimately asks us to listen as a first step—to rethink what sentience and respect and compassion look like when we open ourselves to plant life separate from us. While it uses a lot of scientific terminology and academese—this is not a collection for beginners—this reader is enthralled by the conversation being had. The editors put together a wonderfully concise introduction that outlines the scientific, philosophical, and literary exploration into the language of plants, tracing watershed moments in the history of all three fields and of leading thinkers. The book is divided into three parts, and the final section, on literature, explores how certain authors have used plants to convey social meaning in human-only contexts. The first section, on science, delves into the nuts and bolts of mostly contemporary research on how plants “speak”—from volatile organic compounds to light to nectar to electrostatic charges. Any reader will find a lot to chew on, as we’re asked to expand our views on how plants communicate in ways similar and dissimilar to us, yet in ways still too little understood. The last essay of the first section—“Breaking the Silence,” by Monica Gagliano—serves as a wonderful bridge between the scientific discoveries of that initial section and the philosophical explorations of the second section. Gagliano’s aim is to “breathe life into a new narrative, where language is unbridled from human incarceration and its power refocused toward a more integrated perception of the world.” This thought is perhaps one of the anthology’s core themes, and Gagliano continues by saying that “meaning emerges during interactions among organisms; hence language is not a fixed property of that organism [ . . . ] but rather a truly ecological, dynamic process of relationships.” How can we de-objectify nature, and plants, and restore their dignity? [End Page 221] Luce Irigaray’s piece in the same section also stands out, particularly by championing a silence that the vegetal world teaches us, and how silence allows us the choice to hear or not hear the teaching of plants. Ultimately, this can lead to a new ethics where plants are not just objects to be used by humans. Continuing on that theme is Karen Houle’s extrapolation of the term “justice” as it relates to plant life, reflecting on the idea that how we speak of life is how we treat it or act on its behalf. Ultimately, human language may be a judgment, Houle argues, one that erases a neutrality of perception that won’t allow us to see other lives as beautiful or wonder-filled, worthy of their own existence. Such a line of reason seems particularly relevant among the Great Plains grasslands, where both plant and animal cultures are eroded by one species’s dominant language. Benjamin Vogt Monarch Gardens Lincoln, Nebraska Copyright © 2018 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln