Vol. 1 No. 2 (2024): Networks of Plants and the Language of Resonance in Science and Literature
Research Articles

New German-language Nature Writing and the Language of Resonance and Reflection

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  • Gabriele Duerbeck,
  • Yixu Lu
Gabriele Duerbeck
University of Vechta, Faculty II
Yixu Lu
University of Sydney
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/whppp.63845494909740

Published 2024-10-17

Keywords

  • New Nature Writing,
  • Resonance Catastrophe,
  • Language of Resonance,
  • Mindfulness

How to Cite

Duerbeck, Gabriele, and Yixu Lu. 2024. “New German-Language Nature Writing and the Language of Resonance and Reflection”. Plant Perspectives 1 (2):390-411. https://doi.org/10.3197/whppp.63845494909740.

Copyright (c) 2024 Gabriele Duerbeck, Yixu Lu

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Nature writing is traditionally a genre of non-fictional, essayistic writing which combines vivid natural descriptions, profound introspection and ethical musings. Since 2000, the New Nature Writing (NNW) has emerged in Europe rejecting the escapist, heroic and sometimes nationalist conventions of the original American genre. This article analyses three examples from German New Nature Writing (NNW) from the early 2000s: Laubwerk. Zur Poetik des Stadtbaums (‘The Poetics of the Urban Tree’) by Marion Poschmann (2018), Hafen von Greifswald (‘Port of Greifswald’) by Judith Schalansky (2018), and Wurzelstudien (‘Root Studies’) by Anna Ospelt (2020). As with its British counterpart, German NNW is characterised by ‘an attitude of mindfulness’ (Goldstein 2018) and a poetic perception of nature, and is filled with ‘protest energy’ (Fischer 2019). Our paper will argue that, despite the very distinct approaches of the authors, these texts demonstrate an astonishing similarity in their quest for a ‘language of resonance’ between humans and the plant co-world and in their creation of new spaces of nature-cultural resonances.

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