The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in Modern American Literature

The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in Modern American Literature by Dean Wallace examines the evolving tension between industrialization and the idealized vision of rural life in American literary traditions. Through an in-depth analysis of key literary works from the 19th and 20th centuries, Wallace explores how authors grapple with the implications of technological progress on the pastoral ideal, which has historically symbolized a connection to nature, simplicity, and moral purity. The book explores this conflict in the context of America's transformation from an agrarian society to an industrial powerhouse, discussing how modern literature portrays the intrusion of machines, urbanization, and capitalism on the natural world. With close readings of authors like Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck, Wallace delves into how these writers both lament the loss of rural innocence and grapple with the complexities of modernity. Ultimately, The Machine in the Garden examines the ways in which American literature reflects, critiques, and navigates the uneasy relationship between the natural world and the forces of industrialization, offering profound insights into the past, present, and future of America's ecological and cultural landscape.