K. J. Somaiya

This paper is a detailed analysis of the role of ecofeminist literature in the nineteenth century American literature. Ecofeminism is a practical political movement addressing a broad range of urgent social and political problems, from pollution, health, and species extinction to economic development, militarism, racism, and sexual violence. It is an ecologically centered discipline that critiques the dominant male practices and discourses relating to nature. While ecofeminist literary critics examine literature from all cultures and throughout history to explore female perspectives on nature, nineteenth-century English and American literature is seen as a particularly rich area of study. Margaret Fuller's Summer on the Lakes (1843) chronicles the travels of Fuller and her companions as they visit Niagara Falls, the Great Lakes, Chicago, and the Wisconsin Territory. Susan Fenimore Cooper’s Rural Hours,(1850) she describes an ideal rural society based on her experiences during her excursions in the local countryside. Sarah Orne Jewett’s The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896), for example, is set in the fictional town of Dunnett Landing on the coast of Maine, and the action of the novel revolves around the town and surrounding islands.Taken together the works of these three writers provide unequaled representation of women's efforts on both sides of the pond to challenge the social constraints that blocked their self-realization, and to speak for nature. Their masterpieces exhibit their efforts to interpret the nature of nature and their own identities. They show a splendid chronology that places these women's work in the context of the long nineteenth century. Key Words: Ecofeminism, Nature, Environmental Ethics, Female Exploitation, Gender Politics, Domesticity, Local Landscapes.