A Nova Poética da natureza de Gary Snyder : budismo e ecocrítica na sua obra

Sammanfattning: This thesis presents the work of the poet Gary Snyder (1930) to the Portuguese academia in order to clearly state its original and unique place among North-American poetry. It is divided in three chapters that determine the three different grounds of the author’s syncretism. The first chapter contextualizes Snyder’s work in the history of literary representations of nature. In rupture with the Pastoral literary mode it crystallizes a moment of passing between nature writing and environmental writing. The second chapter discusses the Buddhist elements present in Snyder’s work and stresses the importance of the interrelation between mind and nature. By stating the equivalence between the Buddhist concept of interdependence and ecosystems processes, the poems assume certain formal characteristics that are presented. Finally, the third chapter defines the relation between geographical places and Snyder’s poems. The formal aspects of the author’s poetry reflect Snyder’s notion of the poet as a shaman and its clarification allows for the discussion of the author’s statement of language as a wild ecosystem. Snyder’s syncretism is his most profound, original and long lasting influence in North-American poetry. It extends its influence to environmental ethics, the presence of Buddhism in North-America and the recovery of Native American Myths and lore. It does so in the context of a social, political, poetic, religious and environmental revolution that intends to create a new (and old) place for humans with nature.