An American Prophet: Wendell Berry's Community Ethic, 1965-1977

Author

Joel Garrott, University of Mississippi. Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Southern Studies

First Advisor

Darren Grem

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This thesis provides a detailed commentary on Wendell Berry's agrarian ethic as articulated in his early literature of the 1960s and 1970s. It is part biography of Berry's early life, part history of his early thought, and part literary interpretation of his early work. It expounds on the significance of Berry's personal connection to place, and situates Berry's agrarian argument for community life in the context of the social issues addressed in his early literature. The central argument of this project is that Berry's agrarian ethic was grown out of his relationship with his native place in Kentucky, and that this relationship made Berry's ethic at points narrow in its scope of vision, and at other points prophetic in its analysis of American culture in the 1960s and 1970s. The main works engaged are The Long-Legged House (1969), The Hidden Wound (1970/1989), and The Unsettling of America (1977), along with selections of Berry's poetry from the same time period.

Recommended Citation

Garrott, Joel, "An American Prophet: Wendell Berry's Community Ethic, 1965-1977" (2015). Honors Theses. 559.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/559

Accessibility Status

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