Writing the Protected Landscape: Authenticity, the Creative Economy and the New Nature Writing

In this thesis I examine the professional discourses of England’s protected landscapes and their relationship to fiction, nature writing and poetry. The research for this thesis has been conducted at a time when protected landscapes are under increasing threat from a multitude of pressures; housing development, organisational cuts in governmental funding and questions about their value to the nation are being asked. This thesis is timely in its thoughtful analysis of the way documents are used to articulate a ‘protected’ designation and provides new analysis of how these documents use literary techniques to advocate for such landscapes. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the importance of authenticity to these protected landscape designations. The effect of authenticity generates revenue for the creative economy, but there is also a social and political benefit that contributes significantly to making a defensible case for protecting the landscape. I approached this research with a rich understanding of working in the environmental sector and used a geographical methodology to define the fiction, nature writing and poetry that I analysed alongside business texts of protected landscapes. I began my research with reading the work of Sarah Brouillette, a Professor of English at Carleton University, whose academic research examines the creative economy, and from there I questioned authenticity in heritage and aesthetics of authenticity in the discourses. The results of this thesis demonstrate the challenges in defining a business text outside of a literary genre, because they are so often constructed in a way that behaves like a literary text. My research shows that new nature writing, and the business texts of protected landscapes, are often interwoven in their purpose and the effect of authenticity is a clever yet necessary tool to demonstrate the importance of the intangible and subjective concept of natural beauty. My research concludes with a recognition that the complexity of the purpose of these narratives makes it hard to separate business texts using literary techniques and literary texts acting as business texts to promote a landscape and create a sense of place. The interesting interplay between these discourses, protected landscapes, and the creative economy contributes new and original ideas which, with shifting political sands, become more relevant and poignant as time goes on.<p></p>

Author dc:creator

• Melodie Manners (21038072)

• Landscape
• Authenticity

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Identifier

10779/exe.31016725.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/31016725