Panel Title

The Judgment of the Environment

Location

DIGS 221

Discussant

Casey Cothran

Panel

Skinny Dip: Carl Hiassen, Detective Fiction and the Murder of the Florida Everglades

Category

Arts & Literature

Start Date

7-11-2015 1:00 PM

End Date

7-11-2015 1:00 PM

Description

Carl Hiaasen’s 2004 novel, Skinny Dip, reworks the typical structures and tropes of detective fiction to argue that the most significant “murder” in this text is the large-scale destruction of the Florida Everglades. Using farce and humor to explore the ridiculous circumstances surrounding Charles Perrone’s failed attempts to kill both his wife and girlfriend, Hiassen quietly draws the reader’s attention to the ways that humans both ignorantly and willfully destroy wild spaces. In the novel, both individual persons and multi-million dollar corporations misuse water, water systems, and reptiles because of their failure to understand or value the natural world around them.

This novel was discussed in Professor Cothran’s Spring 2015 course, ENGL 200: Mystery and Detective Fiction. Dr. Cothran will introduce the author, his novel, the work’s popular and critical reception, and briefly discuss how it was incorporated into the classroom. Then three Winthrop undergraduates will share their papers on the book’s themes, using ecocriticism to illustrate its exciting, evocative form and message.

In Hayley Neiling’s “The Judgment of the Environment,” she argues, “In the novel Skinny Dip, crimes committed against other people are portrayed as humorous and entertaining; however, there is an underlying, more serious tone about crimes committed against the environment, and while most of the characters participate in actions of questionable morality, the environment plays a key role in determining ultimately whether a character is ‘good’ or ‘bad.’” While all of the humans in the novel make questionable ethical choices, the way they treat the natural world becomes the ultimate litmus test that marks both heroes and villains.

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Nov 7th, 1:00 PM Nov 7th, 1:00 PM

The Judgment of the Environment

DIGS 221

Carl Hiaasen’s 2004 novel, Skinny Dip, reworks the typical structures and tropes of detective fiction to argue that the most significant “murder” in this text is the large-scale destruction of the Florida Everglades. Using farce and humor to explore the ridiculous circumstances surrounding Charles Perrone’s failed attempts to kill both his wife and girlfriend, Hiassen quietly draws the reader’s attention to the ways that humans both ignorantly and willfully destroy wild spaces. In the novel, both individual persons and multi-million dollar corporations misuse water, water systems, and reptiles because of their failure to understand or value the natural world around them.

This novel was discussed in Professor Cothran’s Spring 2015 course, ENGL 200: Mystery and Detective Fiction. Dr. Cothran will introduce the author, his novel, the work’s popular and critical reception, and briefly discuss how it was incorporated into the classroom. Then three Winthrop undergraduates will share their papers on the book’s themes, using ecocriticism to illustrate its exciting, evocative form and message.

In Hayley Neiling’s “The Judgment of the Environment,” she argues, “In the novel Skinny Dip, crimes committed against other people are portrayed as humorous and entertaining; however, there is an underlying, more serious tone about crimes committed against the environment, and while most of the characters participate in actions of questionable morality, the environment plays a key role in determining ultimately whether a character is ‘good’ or ‘bad.’” While all of the humans in the novel make questionable ethical choices, the way they treat the natural world becomes the ultimate litmus test that marks both heroes and villains.