E. Battaglia.

Critical Essay Notes.

TEXT. Nocturne, Opus 1: Sea Foam.
GUIDING QUESTION. How does Nocturne, Opus 1: Sea Foam use the ecothriller genre to
exploit pastoral and antipastoral ideals?

EXAMPLES OF THE PASTORAL.

Retreat and return: A retreat into contact with living nature/countryside/wilderness and a
return with insights for those living in the court/city/computerised world” (Gifford 7).

Quote. “Now they had become opportunities … for quiet mornings alone … eyes closed …
floating … on the calm water …” (Moskalski 3).

Quote. “Linda and Paul Henderson had camped at Cape Henlopen State Park new Lewes,
Delaware, every summer since accepting their dual professorships at the John Hopkins
University in 2007.”

Idealised: “An idealised text often emphasises fertility, resilience, beauty and unthreatened
stability in nature. These are complacent and comforting representations of nature that
strategically omit any sense of elements that might be counter to this positive image”
(Gifford 8).

Quote. “She listened to the sea grass rustling in the morning breeze, the fiddler crabs clicking out
their soft cadences, the brown pelicans swooping and splashing…” (Moskalski 1).

Nostalgic: “Engaging innocently with a nature that’s often represented as wilder than it is
now” (Gifford 10).

Quote. “Paul smiled, remembering their annual rendezvous at the simple wooden viewing stand
on the Atlantic side of the tip of Cape Henlopen. A weathered, abandoned lifeguard stand, its
solitary silhouette had added to the intrigue of the early sunrises on that side of the Cape’s beach.
With the large, bird nesting dunes blocking the campers’ view, early morning strollers on the
ocean side of the Cape felt as if they were on their own private stretch of beach.
“Linda always preceded him on this trek. She said she liked to begin her walk along the
quiet Delaware Bay side of the Cape, enjoying the cool summer breezes just before dawn …
When she rounded the tip of the cape, she would climb to the top of the old lifeguard stand,
mentally refreshed” (Moskalski 19).

Unproblematic: “Against the turbulence and confusion of the present and the future, a
pastoral past often provides an image in literature of order, stability, and agreed values”
(Gifford 12).

Quote. “At sunrise, Crystal had the entire beach to herself. As she filled her sand pail with shiny
abalone and curly blue shells, her peach veil slipped off one shoulder and trailed behind her in
the water. She knelt to examine a weathered sand dollar and giggled when she spotted a tiny
seahorse hidden beneath it” (Moskalski 10).
Quote. “Near the water’s edge, a group of twelve svelte twenty-year-olds from Bruges,
Belgium’s oldest medieval city wandered among the algae-covered, black boulders that
protruded at low tide. They remarked about the oddly colored gray sea foam, assuming that it
had taken its hues from the dark morning sky.
“Caught in the rock crevices among the bubbles of sea foam were tiny sea creatures
attempting to burrow into the wet sand. Two young women knelt to scoop up the tiny
wentletraps that were tunneling their way to safety.
“As the women gently cradled the creatures, a huge wave generated by the passing
Oostende ferry swept them backwards into the surf. Laughing, they stood up wiping the sea foam
and salt water out of their eyes and long hair, shaking gobs of the sticky foam from their arms
and into the faces of their surrounding friends.”

Golden Age: “In the classical European story of creation the earliest age of human life was
an idyllic one” (Gifford 13).

Arcadian: “The idealisation of the pastoral is a literary construct that transforms an actual
place, with its real mixture of positive and negative qualities, into a glowing ‘Arcadia’”
(Gifford 16).

Quote. “Nesting plovers and little terns stirred, awakening as night turned into day on Lido
Island. The scent of pine freshened the air, and ancestral plane and poplar trees spread their
leaves to catch the morning’s golden light. The changing currents and shifting sands of the
Adriatic Sea laced the island’s beaches with intricate patterns of sea foam and irridescent blue
shells” (Moskalski 7).

TERRY GIFFORD’S ANTI-PASTORAL.

“Corrective of pastoral, often explicitly” (Gifford 19)

“Unidealized – harsh, unattractive” (Gifford 19)

Quote. “… he walked up to the life guarding platform, sloshing through unusually heavy waves
that through sprays of grayish sea foam up against his calves. Yesterday’s weed-whacking nicks
and abrasions stung as the salty brine penetrated his epidermis, jangling the surface into a frantic
alert.
“The salt water hurts more than usual, he thought. Something is wrong. … The surfaces
of my legs are starting to feel numb.
“… As he neared the weathered wood steps, Paul laid a shaking hand on the flat platform
edge, grasping it for support. His knees began to buckle and he struggled to maintain his
balance” (Moskalski 20-21).

Quote. “As the women gently cradled the creatures, a huge wave generated by the passing
Oostende ferry swept them backwards into the surf. Laughing the stood up wiping the sea foam
and salt water out of their eyes and long hair, shaking gobs of the sticky foam from their arms
and into the faces of their surrounding friends.
 “Still gripping a sandy handful of wentletraps in one hand, one of the women rubbed her
wet eyes with her other hand.
“‘Whew. I think that wave slapped its own handful of sand in my face,” she laughed as
she spoke in Flemish. “My eyes fell gritty and salty and sore all at the same time. Somebody
throw me a towel! And why is this sea foam so sticky? Look! I can’t shake it off my arms
anymore. It’s like it’s clinging, no, attaching itself to me.’
The sea foam did not cling to her, but the bacteria imbedded in it did. All night the
bacteria had exchanged molecules, proteins, and genetic elements known as plasmids through
their nanotubes. They were learning from each other. Learning how to attach to their prey”
(Moskalski 39-40).

“Emphasises ‘realism’” (Gifford 19)

Quote. “‘My colleagues attributed a 60% increase in bacterial infections last year to polluted
beaches.’” (Moskalski 15).

Quote. “‘… the data keep getting worse, not better. I think we’ll see a waterborne pandemic
before this decade’s over” (Moskalski 15).

“‘The waters of the Inland Bays may contain organisms that could be harmful to your health.
Swimming could result in an increased risk of rashes, infections or gastrointestinal distress,
especially during and after rainfall. For your health and safety, please swim at beaches with
lifeguards where the water quality is tested weekly…’
“The messages on the warning signs posted all along the inland bay beaches were clear:
This water may be hazardous to your health” (Moskalski 46-47).

“Problematic – shows tensions, disorder, inequalities.” (Gifford 19)

Quote. “Five years ago, the normally passive bacteria had suddenly gone rogue, killing eight
people on bayside beaches. The first persons to die were Maria DeSanchez and Toby Hannah,
graduate students whose water samples had indicated a high bacteria count in the bay.
“Thousands of tourists had fallen ill that summer. Tara’s own exposure had occurred
during an international youth rally at Rehoboth Beach. After a few months, the strain faded
away, as had most people’s memories of it” (Moskalski 3).

Quote: “At first, Tara thought the clouding of her vision and the stinging along her eyelids
resulted from the mixture of sweat, sunscreen and sea foam running into her eyes. Then the pain
intensified to a fiery burn as the colonies of Bacillus nocturne embedded in the sea foam etched
the surfaces of her eyes. Hungrily they began their search for the specific human proteins they
had fed on in the polluted water of the bay.
“The bacteria continued to navigate through the aqueous layers of her eyes, replicating as
they absorbed the proteins scattered among their protective tissues. Blood pooled in the corners
of her eyes as hundreds, then thousands of rapidly multiplying bacteria swept across her lenses
and eclipsed her vision” (Moskalski 4).
Quote. “Crystal’s little arms flailed about, trying to untangle the peach netting that she had been
dragging through the sea foam. It had caught on Julie’s wire rim glasses. Julie gripped it tightly,
trying to extricate herself from the stinging sea foam dripping through the mesh into her eyes.
“…
“… In one swift move, Julie ripped her glasses from her face, spun around, and
inadvertently knocked Crystal backward onto the dry sand. Then Julie grabbed the bottom of her
white tee shirt and furiously rubbed her eyes, all the time crying out for help.
“Her muscles trembled and then stiffened, throwing her precariously off balance. Her
body wavered for a few seconds as if deciding which way to fall, and then began a feint to the
left, only to suddenly twist to the right. her limp arms had lost all capacity to break her fall.
“… She collapsed into [Luke’s] arms, but the unexpected force of her fall pushed them
backward onto the beach. … Blood filled her eyes, running through her eyelashes, down her
face, and onto the beach, forming red puddles on the coarse white sand” (Moskalski 16-17).

Quote. “Relentlessly, replications of Bacillus nocturne continued their voracious ascent through
Paul’s shanks, already six inches above their entry points on his calves. The toxins were carving
lattice-like patters in the fragile tissues of his blood vessels, and the resulting bleeds were
decimating his body’s ability to fight back” (Moskalski 21).

Quote. “Trying to alleviate the stinging sensation, Johanna wiped her eyes with the palms of her
hands, grabbed Steffanie’s arm, and started running toward their hotel. As they stumbled along
through the sand, Johanna rubbed her eyes across her upper arm, desperate to end the burning
pain.
“Steffanie, crying out for help as she staggered behind Johanna, yet trying desperately to
keep up, lost her balance and careened to the right” (Moskalski 40).

Quote. “When Steffanie’s and Johanna’s friends saw the young women fall, they began running
to the water to rinse off the sticky foam that their friends had splattered on them. Their actions,
of course, only splashed more of the bacteria-laden water onto their bodies.
“Within minutes, twelve healthy university students full of promise and one slightly
inebriated physician became the next victims of Bacillus nocturne” (Moskalski 41-42).

“Challenges literary constructs as false distortions.” (Gifford 19)

“Demythologizes Arcadia, Eden, Sangri-La” (Gifford 19)

EXAMPLES OF THE ANTI-PASTORAL.

TERRY GIFFORD’S POST-PASTORAL.

1. Can awe in the face of nature (eg landscapes) lead to humility in our species, reducing
our hubris? (Gifford 21).
“Post-pastoral poetry recognises the dangers of a complacent view of our fragile relationship
with nature, seeking to avoid hubris” (Gifford 22).

2. “What are the implications of recognising that we are part of nature’s creative-
destructive processes?” (Gifford 22)

“A biocentric view accepts that what grows is decay, that in turn feeds growth; but neither
growth nor decay are dominant” (Gifford 22).

Quote. “Every morning [Tara] tested the water for a variant strain of Bacillus nocturne”
(Moskalski 3).

Quote. “Even Tara considered the frequent water tests merely precautionary” (Moskalski 3).

Quote. “Both Kate and Jake worked as research professors at the Institute for Public Policy and
Safety, a think tank at Atlantic University in Dover, Delaware, dedicated to resolving the effects
of climate change” (Moskalski 13).

Quote. “But the data keep getting worse, not better. I think we’ll see a waterborne pandemic
before this decade’s over. That’s why I always check the beach water reports before letting
Crystal play in the water. Except for today. I let Crystal go to the beach this morning without
checking …’’ (Moskalski 15)

3. “If our inner nature echoes our outer nature, how can the outer help us understand the
former?” (Gifford 23)

“The result of such a recognition is that the destructive-creative processes in the natural world
around us can give us images for understanding our own inner processes. Indeed, our inner
processes have a continuum with the outer world, as singers of folk-songs have always
known” (Gifford 23).

Quote. “The quiet night calls of the nesting Least Terns and Black-billed Skimmers faded as
dawn approached. Paul slowed his pace as his muscles relaxed, and the muffled gurgling retreat
of the water beneath the sand drained his tension out to sea.”

4. “If nature is culture, is culture nature?” (Gifford 24)

“The realization that culture itself is nature provides a vital opportunity for the poetic
imagination” (Gifford 24).

“If ‘the external world is fitted to the mind,’ then our thinking is either leading to our own
natural extinction as a species, or to our adaption to our environment” (Gifford 25).

5. “How can consciousness, through conscience, help us heal our alienation from our
home?” (Gifford 25).

“The revolutionary degree of Wordsworth’s discovery can be seen when one considers the
importance of the idea for the Enlightenment that consciousness was what separated us,
indeed elevated us, from the rest of nature” (Gifford 25-26).

“But for those who, like Wordsworth, sought a connectedness with nature, consciousness
remained a source of alienation from the rest of nature” (Gifford 26)

“With consciousness comes conscience and the exercise of choice to reverse some of our
alienating concepts” (Gifford 26).

6. “Is the exploitation of our planet aligned with our exploitation of human minorities?”
(Gifford 26)

“‘We stretched our notions of humanity’ (51). It is an expanding of humanity to conceive the
marrying of the animal and the vegetable in a natural as well as a cultural sense. Thus the
poem claims to have challenged ‘swamps of intolerance’” (Gifford 27).

“Intolerant attitudes can obscure our conceptions of nature as well of cultures that challenge
those conceptions” (Gifford 27).
 Sources.
Moskalski, Norene. Nocturne, Opus 1: Sea Foam. Divinity Press, 2012.
Gifford, Terry. “Pastoral, Anti-Pastoral and Post-Pastoral as Reading Strategies.”