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Troubled Paradise: Edenic Narrative as Environmentalist Critique in Sharon Butala's The Garden of Eden

Towards the conclusion of her memoir The Perfection of the Morning, Canadian Prairie author Sharon Butala states in a seemingly unequivocal way that 'I reject all forms of organized religion. and detest theology' (Butala 1994, pp.158-9). Such a pronouncement would hardly startle most readers in our largely secular age. But Butala's statement raises certain questions. especially when considered in light of her 1998 book The Garden of Eden. a novel that emerges out of a growing body of North American literature that concerns itself with environmental issues. In both name and content. this novel addresses issues of environmentalism and responsible land use through one of Judeo-Christian Western culture's most value-laden fables. Why would Butala. who claims to reject the organized theological structures that arise out of this myth, so readily employ elements of the traditional Edenic narrative in her critique of contemporary prairie land use and agricultural trends? My objectives here are to examine some of the reasons why the story of Eden becomes an attractive means for Butala to stage her concerns about grasslands conservation. biodiversity. and the corporatization of agriculture in the Saskatchewan prairie. Particularly towards the conclusion of Butala's novel. in which her main characters embark on a mission of prairie restoration. it becomes evident that the novel's environmentallyconcerned narrative rests upon a very particular understanding of the expansive yet elusive term 'nature.''