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Article Summary by Michael Carter
In Sue’s first argument, she uses Kari Weil’s Thinking Animals book to prove the point that many current “nature fakers” create questions that they cannot answer themselves. In Kari’s case, she claims that the reason people have recently become reinterested in animal wildlife is because humans are intrigued by the idea that there are beings that, “resist our flawed systems of language” Later on in Kari’s article she is found saying, “The difficulty, of course is discovering how and where to cite what is outside of our language, if indeed we have access to that outside.” Kari draws a clear contradiction between these two phrases because the first one claims to know why it is humans are drawn to wildlife, and then later states that we aren’t exactly sure how complex animal communication really is, or if we can even identify when it is going on.
Sue is able to find another example of unclear thoughts from a “nature faker” after she examined Lisa Mighetto’s book Wild Animals and American Environmental Ethics. This book concludes that humans should accept animals for what they are rather than what we perceive them to be. But what exactly do we see them as? Pets? Wild beasts? Beings with rational thoughts and behavior just like humans? The answer is not found in the book, so it leaves each individual reader to attempt to interpret what is means. More importantly, by leaving this open ended question, Mighetto has just announced that she believes she knows what the right answer is even though she didn’t specifically address it. Sue finds a great deal of fault with this position since she believes that it is impossible to acquire any real depth of knowledge on animals, outside of what we can only observe.
Sue’s final argument is that nature itself is something that cannot be accurately documented through words and expressions. She is able to find support for this idea in June Howard’s Form and History in American Literary Naturalism. June argues that texts in today’s world are deemed as “realism” when the author’s perception and the reader’s perception align together. To Sue, this means that the actual image of nature has become distorted as it is transcribed into words. Those that disagree with Sue argue that when something in nature has been observed for long enough it can in fact be documented accurately for readers to appreciate. To Sue, and other advocates of the “nature fakers,” this is faking nature at is roots. To Sue, these observations are just measurements that do not guarantee any form of authenticity or credibility when documented and published. Sue believes that most of nature is a sublime experience, and words cannot capture what goes on.
Sue Walsh sees many of the nature writings present in today’s society as false indicators of what the wild is really like. This distorted image is then passed down to their readers who choose to read instead of experience the awe of nature first hand. If this trend continues, many people will lose all sense of what an individual can experience when out in the wild, and an overall interest may be lost.
Walsh, Sue. "Nature Faking and the Problem of the "Real"" Xavier Library Home. Xavier University, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
