Rootedness
The Ramifications of a Metaphor
People have long imagined themselves as rooted creatures, bound to the earth – and nations – from which they came. In "Rootedness", Christy Wampole looks toward philosophy, ecology, literature, history, and politics to demonstrate how the metaphor of the root – surfacing often in an unexpected variety of places, from the family tree to folk etymology to the language of exile – developed in twentieth-century Europe. Wampole examines both the philosophical implications of this metaphor and its political evolution. From the root as home to the root as genealogical origin to the root as the past itself, rootedness has survived in part through its ability to subsume other compelling metaphors, such as the foundation, the source, and the seed. With a focus on this concept's history in France and Germany, Wampole traces its influence in diverse areas such as the search for the mystical origins of words, land worship, and nationalist rhetoric, including the disturbing portrayal of the Jews as an unrooted, and thus unrighteous, people. Exploring the works of Martin Heidegger, Simone Weil, Jean-Paul Sartre, Paul Celan, and many more, "Rootedness" is a groundbreaking study of a figure of speech that has had wide-reaching – and at times dire – political and social consequences.
About the Author
Christy Wampole is assistant professor of French at Princeton University. She is the author of "The Other Serious: Essays for the New American Generation".
Reviews
"Theoretically vigorous, critically elegant, and impressively well informed, this is a wonderful exploration of the root metaphor and the notion of rootedness in Western culture and, more particularly, in twentieth-century France and Germany. With assurance and verve, Wampole illuminates such figures as Paul Celan, Edouard Glissant, Jean Paulhan, and Simone Weil" – Gerald Prince, University of Pennsylvania
"Wampole convincingly shows that rootedness is a pervasive literary, political, and philosophical theme that keeps resurfacing in a host of connected contemporary issues, including questions of nationhood in the globalized, multicultural context of identity politics; ideas of memory and tradition in immigrant cultures; and dialectics of localism and universalism in the postcolonial world. Students and scholars alike will benefit from this book" – Elie During, University of Paris Ouest-Nanterre
"'Rootedness' is original, compelling, and ambitious in scope. This is an exemplary work of scholarship in its breadth and depth, not only as an investigation into a number of major works of European literature and thought, but also as an exploration of the human relationship to the other living beings that inhabit the earth" – Alison James, University of Chicago
