New publication: Cornelia Zumbusch: Natur und Askese

1 September 2022

Hermits or dropouts go into nature to experience a life characterized by simplicity, renunciation and self-restraint. At the same time, asceticism has been regarded since antiquity as the practice of a life in harmony with nature. It seems obvious to see in ascetic behavior the way out of the ecological crises of the present. But what does it mean for social relations with nature if a positive form of relating to nature is reserved only for those who have consciously distanced themselves from society? »Natur und Askese« does not make a plea for ascetic rules of life. Instead, Cornelia Zumbusch shows how lonely forest, desert or wilderness become spaces of self experience. Living in nature and writing about it are means of askesis - a practice sharpening and training the powers of perception and imagination. In this way, literature written under the sign of nature and asceticism forms not only a life lesson, but mainly a poetics.

Cornelia Zumbusch: Natur und Askese, Berlin: Matthes & Seitz, 2022. 156 pages. ISBN: 978-3-7518-0560-5.