Nature et modernité : réflexions théoriques suivies d’une lecture écologique de Fenn Kaß

The current environmental concerns call upon a revaluation of the concept of modernity which, a century ago, has been proven to be a major cultural and aesthetic reference. Modernist writers took up new subjects, like industry and urbanism, as an alternative to homeland literature’s depiction of earth and soil. Batty Weber depicts in Fenn Kaß (1913) the life of a defrocked priest who leaves his native countryside to become an engineer abroad. Seemingly a novel about modernity, the book also contains several descriptions of the protagonist’s relation to the natural environment, using repeatedly the metaphor of a liquid and dissolving body. By defining both interrelated concepts of nature and modernity, this paper provides an anthropological reading of texts, questioning how salient poetical motives can challenge sociological and epistemological contextualisation.