Ithaca College

Rachel Paparone's article "A(r)cadie heureuse? Space, Place, and Engaged Pastoral in Zachary Richard's Feu" appears in the current issue of Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature. 

The article looks at ways that Richard deconstructs myths of Arcadia that shaped the Acadian and Cajun culture and identity. At the same time, he problematizes the use of pastoral rhetoric to promote imperial expansion in North America. By refocusing the reader's attention onto marginalized populations, landscapes, and histories, Richard creatively intervenes in the hegemonic narrative of resource domination in North America, thereby forcing a reevaluation of what it means to occupy physical and rhetorical space, an issue that has been central to the modernization of the pastoral mode.