Insect Poetics
Eric C. Brown,
Editor
University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
2006, 405 pp.
Price: $25.00,
soft cover
ISBN:
0-8166-4696-1
In
Insect Poetics, Eric Brown has assembled 18 original essays that
focus on the role insects play in a variety of literary, artistic, and
cultural works, and thus he offers an opportunity to explore how insects
have been perceived by others throughout history and outside the field
of entomology. In his introduction, Brown links insects to the arts when
he notes Pliny’s need to justify the study of small organisms such as
insects and concludes that “the details required to shape the
intricacies of the insect require an artist.” And while not disputing
that insects are a common element of the human experience, Brown
emphasizes the formidable distance between insects and humans that “must
be mediated—by art, artifice, technology.” These ideas set the stage for
a challenging and insightful treatment of how insects have inspired a
range of artistic and literary endeavors.
The contributions to this book are organized
into three parts. Part I, Literary Entomologies, includes eight essays
that deal with the appearance of insects and insect imagery in a variety
of literary works. Whereas the insect-themed work of Don Marquis and
Franz Kafka may be familiar to most entomologists, the influence of
insects and the entomological reflected in the writing of authors
including Virgil, Shakespeare, Thoreau, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf,
and Kobe Abé will likely be a revelation to many readers. With the
exception of May Berenbaum’s survey of insects in poetry, which is
written for a general audience, the essays in this section provide
critical literary analyses that seem to be written for the authors’
peers in the humanities. However, the insects and entomological
phenomena that are featured in these works, including themes of
metamorphosis, social insects, swarming locusts, and cockroaches, are
familiar to entomologists. The analyses are thought provoking and, for
the most part, biologically tenable. For example, Tony McGowan argues
that Thoreau’s views of slavery and immigration were influenced by
having read descriptions of slave-making ants and swarming locusts,
respectively.
The five essays
in Part II, Rhetoric and Aesthetics, cover a range of topics about how
insect images and entomological works either reflect or have influenced
prevailing cultural views and attitudes. Subjects include the use of
emblematic beetles during the Renaissance, the contrasting economic
views (particularly as to the value of labor) based on analysis of
beekeeping and sericulture manuals from 17th-century England, and the
impact of the microscope and corresponding increased powers of
observation on 18th-century aesthetics.
Most
powerful is Cristopher Hollingsworth’s essay on how the use of insect
metaphor has played an important role in dehumanizing racial and ethnic
groups. Not surprisingly, “cockroach” is a label commonly applied to
undesirable groups, from the Tutsis in Rwanda to Mexican immigrants in
the United States. Use of this negative metaphor is compromised by the
positive view of the cockroach in Mexican folklore. This essay makes an
interesting contrast with Marion Copeland’s essay in Part I that
discusses the biocentric and ecocentric themes in literary works
featuring cockroaches.
Part
III, Unsettling Insects, contains four essays that emphasize the theme
of insects as being distinctly “other” from humanity that Brown develops
in his introduction. Charlotte Sleigh notes the transition of
entomologists from avid collectors and natural historians into
professionals devoted to controlling insect pests in the early 20th
century as she explores psychological aspects of the widespread
view of insects as “creepy,” undesirable organisms. Nicky Coutts
explores malevolent portrayals of insects in a variety of artistic media
from the Middle Ages to the present. Richard Leskosky analyzes the
prevalence of giant insects and other arthropods in science
fiction/horror films (i.e., big bug films). Insect images from early
cinematic works and more recently produced films are included, along
with the many classic big bug films from the 1950s, such as THEM!
Sarah Gordon concludes this section with a discussion of the spectacle
of entomophagy, particularly as portrayed in Western society. Her
analyses of television shows such as Fear Factor and
insect-cuisine features on the Food Network channel, seem to be an
important and original contribution to discussions of entomophagy.
Most authors provide adequate background
information and quotations from the pieces they are analyzing to support
their theses and help readers follow their analyses. There are, however,
relatively few figures in the book, which is frustrating when an author
is discussing a visual image that is not pictured in the text. Endnotes,
including citations of works mentioned in the text, are included at the
end of each essay. A helpful index is provided that includes scientific
and common names of insects mentioned in the text, artists and authors,
and general topics such as “film treatment of insects,” which includes
the title, date, and director of all films mentioned in the book.
The
essays in Insect Poetics offer an interdisciplinary treatment of
insects that stretches the boundaries in which most entomologists think
about their subject. Readers may find some essays, particularly in Part
I, inaccessible at first reading because the style and language of
academic discourse differ dramatically from that of the sciences. Essays
in Parts I and II seem to draw upon more entomological information than
those in Part I, and thus may be more accessible to readers with a
scientific background. Those readers hoping for a work of popular
science with a focus on insects in the arts are likely to be
disappointed. Some essays from this collection could be assigned to
supplement standard texts and would generate interesting discussion in
undergraduate classes in which the goal is to consider how the influence
of insects is realized in other fields.
This collection would be a valuable addition
to university libraries and of interest to those whose entomological
interests are eclectic and interdisciplinary. I particularly recommend
this book to instructors of courses on insects and human society, who
will find the essays helpful for class preparation and for identifying
additional literary and artistic works that feature insect images.
Tracey M.
Anderson
Division of
Science and Math
University of
Minnesota, Morris
Morris, MN
56267
Email: anderstm@morris.umn.edu
American Entomology
Vol. 54, No. 3, Fall 2008
