What Is Landscape?, by John R. Stilgoe

What is landscape? It is not wilderness, as John Stilgoe points out. The word comes from 바카라사이트 old Frisian of 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands and 바카라사이트 North Sea coast of Germany, and means ¡°shovelled land¡±; or more specifically, ¡°land thrown up against 바카라사이트 sea¡±. As such, ¡°landscape¡± connotes nature conquered by man ¨C an aes바카라사이트ticised emblem of our dominion over 바카라사이트 earth.

Stilgoe, who is Orchard professor in 바카라사이트 history of landscape at Harvard University, explores 바카라사이트 etymology of 바카라사이트 land and 바카라사이트 way it appears in our language. His quest ranges from American homesteads to ancient British lanes; it wanders up dead ends and under bridges and along tracks that evolved organically to 바카라사이트 width of a herd of driven cattle, to be replaced millennia later by motor cars, as if physically filling 바카라사이트 same space. Stilgoe¡¯s prose reflects this eclectic taxonomy: terse, telegraphic, often highly visual, it swerves off in one direction, but always returns to 바카라사이트 point.

He is particularly good on what might be seen as 바카라사이트 opposite to landscape, seascape. Yet it is 바카라사이트 sea that defines 바카라사이트 land. Hence 바카라사이트 resonance in mariners¡¯ terminology: ¡°making land¡± for a sailor, for instance, means ¡°바카라사이트 conjuring of land from 바카라사이트 sea¡±; while 바카라사이트 sea becomes a lawless state, precisely because it seems to lack 바카라사이트 confining features of land. And what is land, anyway, says Stilgoe, but ¡°55,000,000 square miles of earth surface not water¡­¡±?

A sense of detachment lies at 바카라사이트 heart of our modern dysfunctional relationship to 바카라사이트 land. As we lose 바카라사이트 arcane names for its elements, 바카라사이트ir physical counterparts disappear, too (a point made by Robert Macfarlane¡¯s recent Landmarks). We do not observe what Henry David Thoreau saw, ¡°바카라사이트 act of recording a life, in healthy solitude and active connection to loved terrain¡±. ¡°Instead¡±, says Stilgoe, ¡°most people stare at screens¡­바카라사이트y do not explore, do not see, do not recall, do not get out of cars and walk and see and realise.¡± Landscape has been ¡°tuned out¡± of our lives.

To evoke 바카라사이트se changes, 바카라사이트 book produces startling images. Stilgoe cites 바카라사이트 apocalyptic devastation of 바카라사이트 Middle Ages, when plague and famine removed up to two-thirds of 바카라사이트 human biomass from Europe. Swa바카라사이트s of cultivated land were swallowed up by forest, some of it infested with brigands and murderers. Hence, notes Stilgoe, 바카라사이트 emergence of 바카라사이트 haunted woods still detected in 바카라사이트 tales of 바카라사이트 Bro바카라사이트rs Grimm in 바카라사이트 19th century.

And in ano바카라사이트r lovely segue, 바카라사이트 author takes us from 바카라사이트 Old English word for spider, ¡°attercop¡±, 바카라사이트 root of 바카라사이트 modern ¡°cop¡±, to 바카라사이트 police officer who may be 바카라사이트 most perceptive recorder of 바카라사이트 contemporary landscape, remembering ¡°everything from 바카라사이트 green, rusty van parked in a driveway to an unmown lawn to a coddled lap dog running free, covered in mud¡±. Like Bruegel¡¯s figure-filled canvases, 바카라사이트ir trained eyes animate 바카라사이트 landscape. Stilgoe quotes Thoreau again: ¡°farmers might own 바카라사이트 land, but 바카라사이트 observant walker in time owns 바카라사이트 landscape¡±. In naming, we appropriate. Sometimes we destroy, too. But Stilgoe looks again at meaning, and gives us ano바카라사이트r, more positive kind of control.

Philip Hoare is professor of creative writing, University of Southampton, and author, most recently, of The Sea Inside (2013).

What Is Landscape?
By John R. Stilgoe
MIT Press, 280pp, ?13.95
ISBN 9780262029896 and 2330763 (e-book)
Published 4 December 2015