Western Carolina University

Mimi Fenton displays her new book, “Milton’s Places of Hope: Spiritual and Political Connections of Hope with Land.”

“Milton’s Places of Hope: Spiritual and Political Connections of Hope with Land,” by Mimi Fenton, WCU associate professor of English and an internationally recognized scholar on Milton’s work, was published recently by Ashgate, one of the world’s leading academic presses.

 Fenton’s book argues that the concept of hope is intrinsically connected with place and land in early modern culture and in Milton’s poetry and prose. Back then, Fenton says, hope came from commitment to literal places such as the land, ideological places such as the nation, and sacred places such as the soul.

Fenton worked on the book, conducting research and writing, almost daily beginning in 2000 and continuing until December 2006. The study of Milton’s work is a “huge and demanding field,” and research required visits to places such as the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., to examine archival materials, Fenton said.

“It’s such deep and fascinating material to work with, but there’s also tons of it, so it takes time and lots of thought,” Fenton said. “It’s my first book, and it’s the book of my heart. It mattered so much to me to write a book that would matter – that would, hopefully, make a real and significant contribution to our understanding of not only Milton and early modern culture, but ourselves and our own culture.”

 Fenton said she’s been interested in Milton’s work since her days as an undergraduate student at the University of Wyoming.

“I’ve been fascinated by him because of his relentless intensity about life and his vigor for the life of the mind and spirit,” she said. “He takes on so many of the big questions that really are timeless, no matter where or in what time period you live – questions like why aren’t we perfect, what’s religion got to do with spirituality, why aren’t we all good all of the time, even when we want to be, and about a million more questions.”

Fenton said her book started out “as a kind of boring, compendious study on the nature of spiritual, psychological and poetic hope,” but in the course of her research she discovered that the original meaning of hope is land – from the Old English and Old Norse word “hop,” meaning a secluded valley or remote enclosed space.

“I realized that my 21st-century American version of hope was very different from what Milton and early modern culture’s notion of hope might have been,” she said. “So, I had to take it seriously, and my research led me to all the wonderful, deep-seated Biblical, iconographical and cultural connections of hope with land and place, and what Milton does with that in his poetry like 'Paradise Lost.'

 Fenton said the connection between hope and land is an idea that has immediate relevance when she observes the impact of development in Jackson County and subsequent loss of what was once farmed or forested landscapes.

“Right now, we’re dealing with positives and negatives of that relationship with hope and land,” she said. “Some of the development is good, of course – good for the culture and good for the economy – but much development appears to be thriving without a real and respectful regard for either the land itself or for the legacy, history and spiritual value of the land and culture.

“Place is space that has historical meaning and an historical identity,” Fenton said. “I think a lot is being done to space as it consists of acreage, plots and gated communities, and very little is being done to preserve the legacy of this local place and its future identity or destiny. There’s a lot of economic hope for some people, and simultaneously, a lot of cultural and spiritual hopelessness about what’s being imposed upon this place in the name of progress that we literally ‘buy into’ or must resign ourselves to being subject to.”

Fenton is a past winner of WCU’s highest teaching honor, the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and the top prize for superior teaching given by the University of North Carolina system, the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Fenton will be honored during a reading, reception and book-signing that will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.