| This dissertation offers both a comparative rhetorical analysis of texts and a consideration of the practical influence of those texts for how Americans conceive contemporary landscapes, in particular hybrid landscapes. It begins with consideration of westward expansion texts (including narratives of invitation, diaries, letters, and homesteading accounts specifically focusing on the historical and literary period occurring between 1803 to the 1930s). It then connects those texts with early American literature about the Western landscape, including works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Perkins Marsh, and John Muir, written between 1820 and 1911. Finally, it examines contemporary writing in both literary and higher-journalism genres about the West. This dissertation documents the role that texts have played in defining wilderness, seeking not only to inform readers about the potent role of the writing we consume—including classic “nature writing”—in shaping attitudes with not always-tonic, real-world consequences for the environment, but also to encourage reconsideration of the value of hybrid spaces.
Key words: American Literature, ecocriticism, rhetorical analysis, urban wild spaces, western frontier, nature writing, American Histo |