The first talk in the University of Cumbria's Cultural Landscapes series for 2024 - 2025, took place this week. The talks got off to a great start with Professor David Higgins speaking about the environmental writer, Rachel Carson.
Before the talk I knew very little, if anything, about Rachel Carson's work, so I found the talk fascinating, and I am now keen to read some of her work.
The introduction to the talk gave some context, and I heard names I recognised and love: “six decades after her death, Rachel Carson still exercises a powerful influence on environmental thinking across the world. This talk focuses on how the nature writing of Richard Jeffries and H. M. Tomlinson influenced her work and how, in turn, Carson influenced contemporary British authors such as Dave Goulson and John Burnside. It emphasises the continuing relevance of her writing as we contemplate a rapidly changing natural world with both dread and wonder.”
I've always been a fan of Richard Jeffries' mystical nature writing, and I've recently started to enjoy John Burnside, so I very much enjoyed discovering that Jeffries inspired Carson, and she, in turn, inspired John Burnside.
There were some lighthearted moments and I loved Higgins' reference to The Wind in the Willows and Mr Toad being an early adopter of the motor car, and a very bad driver who wouldn't care about the environmental impact of his driving style!
I left the talk inspired to read some of Rachel Carson's books and understand more about her ideas.