Native Tourist in Florida Roadkill: An Ecocritical ApproachBy Megan Getter

First in Serge series

Road trip across Florida

Serge and others hunting down money

Ecocriticism

Analyzes the implications of the interactions between human and nature

Uses Interdisciplinary study  of ecology and literature

The Big Questions

“In what ways do highly evolved and self-aware beings relate to nature?”

“What roles do language, literature, and art play in this relation?”

“How have modernization and globalization processes transformed it?”

“Is it possible to return to more ecologically attuned ways of inhabiting nature, and what would be the cultural prerequisites for such a change?”

(Heise 504)

Serge Storms

“curiously likable” because “Serge, after all, only kills those who deserve it” 1

“an avenging angel of sorts, out to rid the state of corruption even if he has to kill three-fourths of the population in the process” 2

1 Contemporary Authors Online n.p. 2 Hooper 1603

Native Tourist• Florida landscape - natural

and man-made

• Examples

• Coral incident

• Key Deer

• Selfish reasons for protecting

Environmental Orientations• Nature as “a dominating

force, one that cannot be harnessed”  

• Nature as “a balancing act between the environment and their needs”

• Nature as “a slave and try to control and rule it”

(Neuliep 145)

http://thehappypill.files.wordpress.com/

Development• Florida overrun by tourists

• Vista Isles

• Creates false environment

• Hoodwinks old people

• Greed major problem in Florida

Image Credit: bentsengroveresort.com

Pollution• Malathion pesticide

• Used on citrus

• Promoted as safe

• Kills people

• Pollution – major issue for Dorsey

Dorsey as an Ecocritic

Shows readers potential and existing problems

Examples of how not to interact with the environment

Offers unrealistic solution to problems

Compels readers to act more responsibly

Works Cited

Bracke, Astrid, and Marguerite Corporaal. "Ecocriticism And English Studies: An Introduction." English Studies 91.7 (2010): 709-712. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

Dorsey, Tim. Florida Roadkill. New York: Harper, 1999. Print.

"Florida Roadkill." Publishers Weekly 5 July 1999: 58. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Oct. 2011

Garrard, Greg. "Beginnings: Pollution." Introduction. Ecocriticism. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2012. 1-17. Print.

Gifford, Terry. "Recent Critiques in Ecocriticism." New Formations 64 (2008): 15-24. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 31 Oct.

2011.

Harmon, William. ”Ecocriticism” A Handbook to Literature. 12th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.

Hooper, Brad, and Bill Ott. "Florida Roadkill." Booklist 1 May 2001: 1603. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

McKee, Richard. “Tim Dorsey, Satirical Crime Writer Extraordinaire.” Florida Crime Writers: 24 Interviews. Ed. Steve Glassman. Jefferson: McFarland, 2008. 40-49. Print.

"Tim Dorsey." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource

Center. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.