TECHNOLOGY and landscape have long been understood as inherently
antagonistic concepts, reflective of the encroachments of
civilization on the natural world. Yet as the essays in this volume
make clear, the tension between culture and nature is more apparent
than real. Even in preindustrial societies, where the dominant
technologies are agricultural, it would be impossible to envision a
landscape unshaped by human contact.
Drawing on evidence from Europe and America, from the
Renaissance to the present day, the contributors to this volume
reconceive the relationship between technology and landscape as a
product of cultural interactions. Rather than view landscape only
statically as space, they also see it as a process embedded in
narrative, or time. Whether one is concerned with the English
countryside, the Nazi autobahn, a naturalist's description of the
New World, or chemical pollution in contemporary Louisiana, the
question of who gives a place its meaning is just as important as
who constructs the physical landscape. Is the Grand Canyon a
profitless locality, a sublime wonder, or a potential mining site?
Is the smoke of an industrial city construed as pollution or as a
heartening sign of prosperity? Is the Appalachian Trail a means to
revivify the rural economy or a way to escape into a rugged
wilderness experience? These are some of the questions addressed in
this interdisciplinary collection of original essays.
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