Review: Steve Mentz “An Introduction to the Blue Humanities”

This review first appeared in the issue of “Literary Guide” (Nr 5, July/August 2023), released by the National Library of Latvia on October 2, 2023, in Latvian. For the material to be available in English as well, I’m re-posting it on the Sea Library’s blog.

As sea levels continue to rise, it is important to improve our knowledge about them. In this year’s 4th issue of “Literature Guide”, I recommended a series of books dedicated to maritime cultural history, writing “it is exciting to live in a time when the Blue Humanities is gaining momentum”.

Blue Humanities is a playful but apt term coined in 2009 by the American professor Steve Mentz. This summer, the first compact textbook written by him was published – an introduction to the (reasonably) new direction of the humanities, where culture, history, man and society are studied using the sea as a reference point. However, not only seas and oceans, but also glaciers, rivers, marshes and other inland waters, being highly connected, can be included in research. In this same context, the author encourages us not to forget the clouds and our bodies!

In 164 pages, 10 short chapters of the book “An Introduction to the Blue Humanities” we swim through all the oceans, as well as the Caribbean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the World Ocean as a whole in an easy to read language. The author combines literary classics with completely new works – poetry, novels. Unbelievably, the author has managed to roll up and fit not only philosophical digressions, but also sailors, mermaids, pirates, surfers, swimmers and other sea animals in the thin book, like a bottle.

An interesting topic is the way to write about the sea. A series of everyday words are based on the ground like “research field” and others. Perhaps the study of maritime literature requires a whole new vocabulary? A writer has to be as nimble and fluid as water. Blending boundaries, letting the currents take you, anchoring when necessary and always reaching for the horizon.

Like the world’s waters, marine research is global and does not focus solely on the Atlantic or the historically steeped Mediterranean. Healthy brainstorms arise when there is an opportunity to read about other cultures and worldviews – this book also invites you to do that.

As an example, I would like to highlight the history of the Pacific Ocean, whose brightest heroes are undeniably the Polynesians – the world’s first brave sailors. They sailed in the endless plains (a land-based word, I know!) from islet to island without a compass or any other conventional navigational instruments known to us. Their history is still largely a mystery, but it is known that they read the stars like an open book, and when they sat in the boat they imagined that it was not the boat that was moving forward, but that the ocean with its islands and basically all of space was spinning and coming closer while the boat stood on places. All that remained was to read the paths of the stars and straighten the bow of the boat. I have also read the fact that male Polynesian sailors were able to determine currents by immersing their testicles in the water – one of the most sensitive navigation tools, for sure.

In the first pages of the book, the author expresses his gratitude to the sources of inspiration, one of which can be found right here in Latvia. Steve Mentz mentions the Sea Library in Jūrmala, calling it a “visionary” place, and I – as the captain of this library – must reveal that the professor has been one of the most active supporters of the small and extraordinary library, sending valuable publications across the ocean to the Baltic coast and maintaining on the web the community of sea lovers from Australia to America very united. Water unites all the shores of the world, and after all, the Baltic Sea is just a pocket of the Atlantic Ocean – imagining it as the inside pocket of the world’s jacket right there where the heart is.

Lasi manu apskatu latviski “Literatūras ceļveža” 2023. gada 5. numurā un grāmatu aizņemies lasīšanai no Jūras bibliotēkas!