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Book Review
| Romantic Rocks, Aesthetic Geology. By Noah Heringman. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2004. xix + 304 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $47.50.
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| Well-written, enjoyable, informative, and amusing, this book should have a wide audience including researchers, postgraduates, and the general reader. Heringman brings insight, anecdote, and literature to his argument. This period of art, science, and natural philosophy is one of the most dynamic; a time of no barriers between disciplines. A scientist would be philosopher, writer, and poet, with perceptions and knowledge interlinked. Theories of creation or evolution were to reverberate over the decades to come. Geology and its understanding were philosophical inquiries into the reasons for human existence; challenging or supporting religious orthodoxy, interacting with society in art and literature. This shows how geology influenced people and thought; science was influenced and affected by landscape perception and interpretation. |
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Geology and the basic underlying rocks, translated into landform, are central to the understanding of landscapes and hence their appreciation. The rocks, and their inherent chemical and physical characteristics; their origins and the changes in material and in landform through time, remain mysterious and enigmatic. |
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Heringman's fascinating and relevant book places geology central to British literary culture of the time. He develops the themes with interesting and challenging examples to highlight key points and illuminate the particular threads and trends. This is the human experience and geochemistry intertwined in an intimate and fertile way. |
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For many this brings a whole new vista and experience, changing perceptions of natural and cultural environmental interactions. It places geology and landform central to culture and landscape perception. The approach is not new and writers such as Ousby (The Englishman's England: Taste, Travel and the Rise of Tourism—Pimlico, 1990) have described and discussed mountains and visitor perceptions from the touristic viewpoint. The development of the "picturesque" as a view of landscape by William Gilpin in the eighteenth century is a recognized part of this process of enlightenment. The relationships between the picturesque as a view of landform, and the "romantic movement" in art and in literature in the nineteenth century are well known. |
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Heringman brings to this debate graceful and incisive writing and a sharp insight into sources and key players. His work flows between the geologists and natural scientists themselves, and the poets and other writers too. It is not that the poets and writers refer specifically to geological terms and phrases, but that they are engaged with geological thoughts, influences, and theories in a range of ways and in considerable depths. In Erasmus Darwin we see the presentation of geological and scientific ideas and concepts emerging through the medium of poetry. For those brought up on the often dry prose and form of contemporary scientific journals, this is exciting. Relevant examples underpin the discussion, ranging from the religious and moral aspects of topography and landform to artistic and literary enlightenment. This fascinating account transposes barriers and disciplines to great effect. It deserves to be read. |
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Ian D. Rotherham is a reader in the Tourism, Leisure, and Environmental Change Research Unit at Sheffield Hallam University. |
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