Richard Powers, The Overstory

Martin Kich (Wright State University)

Ed. by Sofia Ahlberg, Uppsala University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2018

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Powers’ twelfth novel explores the connections between trees and human beings. It focuses on activists seeking to preserve the remnants of old-growth forests, and it vividly describes the mercenary ways in which human beings have turned trees into a broad range of commodities, showing little regard for preserving the eco-systems that have both allowed the development of magnificent forests and have turned those forests into rich habitats for all sorts of other plant, insect, and animal species.

But the novel is not simply focused on such activism. There are nine main characters, and only six of those characters are directly engaged in activism, and those six characters have not all been committed to the cause as intensely or as long. So, the novel is unusual in its mix of elements. While

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2532 words

Citation: Kich, Martin. "The Overstory". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 May 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41606, accessed 18 May 2024.]

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