Earth Perfect? Nature, Utopia and the Garden is an eclectic reflection on the relationship'historical, present and future'between humanity and the garden. Through the lens of Utopian Studies Earth Perfect? brings together a selection of inspiring essays.
The featured essays are from writers within the fields of architecture, history of art, classics, cultural studies, farming, geography, horticulture, landscape architecture, law, literature, philosophy, urban planning and the natural sciences. Through these joined voices, the garden emerges as a site of contestation and a repository for symbolic, spiritual, social, political and ecological meaning. Questions such as: 'what is the role of the garden in defining humanity's ideal relationship with nature?' and 'how should we garden in the face of catastrophic ecological decline?' are addressed through wide-ranging case studies, including ancient Roman gardens in Pompeii, Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, the gardens of Versailles, organic farming in new england and Bohemia's secret gardens, as well as landscape in
contemporary architecture.
Issues relating to the utopian garden are explored thematically rather than chronologically, and organised in six chapters: 'Being in Nature', 'Inscribing the Garden', 'Green/House', 'The Garden Politic', 'Economies of the Garden' and 'How then shall we Garden?'. Each essay is both individual in scope and part of the wider discourse of the book as a whole, and each is lusciously illustrated, bringing to life the subject with diverse visual material ranging from photography to historical documents, maps and artworks.
Annette Giesecke is Professor of Classics and Chair of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Delaware. She has written on a variety of subjects ranging from Epicurean philosophy and the poetry of Homer and Virgil to ancient attitudes towards the natural environment.
Naomi Jacobs is Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at the University of Maine. She is past President of the Society for Utopian Studies, and was founding member of the Advisory Board and Editorial Committee to the journal Utopian Studies.
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