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An Analysis of Eco-criticism and Literature with special reference to the works of Hardy and Dickens
Abstract: The task of ecocriticism, is to formulate a conceptual foundation for the study of interconnections between literature and the environment. Literature can be perceieved as an aesthetically and culturally constructed part of the environment, since it directly addresses the questions of human constructions, such as meaning, value, language, and imagination, which can, then, be linked to the problem of ecological consciousness that humans need to attain. Within this framework, eco-critics are mainly concerned with how literature transmits certain values contributing to ecological thinking. Environmental crisis is a question that cannot be overlooked in literary studies. Consciousness raising in environmental thinking, and the ethical and aesthetic dilemmas posed by the global ecological crisis, force literary scholars to recognize the important role literature and criticism play in understanding man’s position in the ecosphere. Literature can be usefully examined as having some bearing on man and his practical relation to the natural world. Novels of Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy dealing with London in the age of Industraial Revolution served as an agecy of awareness. They can be publicized to help advance the cause of natural environment. In the Return of the Native, Clym Yeobright comes back to his native environment leaving the glamorous city life of Paris. In his essay, “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism,” William Rueckert defines ecocriticism as “the application of ecology and ecological concepts to the study of literature, because ecology (as a science, as a discipline, as the basis for human vision) has the greatest relevance to the present and future of the world” (1996:107). In this context the possible relations between literature and nature are examined in terms of
Eco-Criticism and Socio-Political Issues through Literary Texts
International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, 2023
Nature can’t speak for herself and thus time and again she retorts with calamities, making us vulnerable and impotent. This paper proposes to explore the various geopolitical and socio-political intricacies of man versus nature, which are portrayed by Indian English writers. The genuine concern for nature along with marginal demography and water habitats is the main focus around which Amitav Ghosh’s (2016)‘The Hungry Tides’ and Arundhati Roy’s (1999) ‘The Greater Common Good’ revolves. The paper aims at establishing intertextuality between the two texts focusing on the concerns of both the writers over nature and also depicting vulnerability of humans in front of the wrath of nature. The texts lack literary similarities but the theme revolves around interference of human beings in the disruption of the ecological balance and about the sufferings of the marginal people being a part of the broader nature encompassed in its thrall. Both authors bring forward to the global community issues which can damage nature and human beings bringing out the hidden socio-political reasons along with environmental concerns. As the paper proceeds, we will explore the tangible yet profound manifold relationship between human and nature. The true meaning of symbiosis is established not in the society of civilization but through roots that penetrate into the soil sustaining life. These discussions will be done through the mentioned literary texts to provide a basic guidance to researchers and fellow environmentalists before they venture into the world of the 'other'
Veda Publications, 2015
The study of literature has long been preoccupied with historical approaches. However, in recent years critics are increasingly aware of the relation between literature and geography, and drawing insights from the mutual study of these two fields. Nature and literature have always shared a close relationship as is evidenced in the works of poets and other writers down the ages in almost all cultures of the world. The world of literature throngs with works dealing with beauty and power of nature. However, the concern for ecology and the threat that the continuous misuse of our environment poses on humanity have only recently caught the attention of the writers. It is this sense of concern and its reflection in literature that have given rise to a new branch of literary theory, namely Ecocriticism. This research paper gives a brief history of the gradual growth of Ecocriticism as a post-modern literary approach. Ecocritics lay emphasis on the preservation of landscape in order to save the human race. Ecocriticism not only lays emphasis on the 'harmony' of humanity and nature but also talks about the destruction caused to nature by the changes which take place in the modern world for most of which man is directly responsible. Ecocriticism is a fairly new concept but it has gained importance rapidly. More and more scholars have become aware of it and they are eager to do their research in the field of Ecocriticism and other areas associated with it. There have also been numerous debates on whether to include human culture in the physical world. Despite the broad scope of inquiry all ecological criticism shares the fundamental premise that human culture is connected to the physical world, affecting it and affected by it.
Foreword: Ecocriticism in the Age of Dislocation?
Dix-Neuf, 2019
Anglophone environmental literary criticism has evolved within the bounds of regions and regionalism. Particularly during its early years, ecocriticism privileged local engagement with the natural world as a literary-activist mode. Recent approaches, however, emphasise translocal, transregional, and transnational frameworks. Moreover, intersections with studies of affect, ecofeminism, materiality, postcolonialism, risk, and other areas underlie the continuing theoretical diversification of ecocriticism. An Anthropocene Ecocriticism would confront the disorienting spatiotemporal scales of our age, resist longstanding local-global binarisms, place emphasis on the value of indigenous narratives, and embrace the environmental justice origins of the field.
The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Environment
Interdisciplinary studies in literature and environment, 2015
The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Environment is an authoritative guide to the exciting new interdisciplinary fi eld of environmental literary criticism. The collection traces the development of ecocriticism from its origins in European pastoral literature and offers fi fteen rigorous but accessible essays on the present state of environmental literary scholarship. Contributions from leading experts in the fi eld probe a range of issues, including the place of the human within nature, ecofeminism and gender, engagements with European philosophy and the biological sciences, critical animal studies, postcolonialism, posthumanism, and climate change. A chronology of key publications and bibliography provide ample resources for further reading, making The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Environment an essential guide for students, teachers, and scholars working in this rapidly developing area of study. LOUISE WESTLING has been teaching in the English Department at the University of Oregon since 1977. She served as a visiting professor at the University of T ü bingen and a Fulbright Professor at the University of Heidelberg, and as a president and founding member of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment.
An Essay on Ecocriticism in the Century of Restoring the Earth
JAST: Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 2009
The larger system is the biosphere, and the subsystem is the economy. The economy is geared for growth…whereas the parent system doesn't grow. It remains the same size. So as the economy grows…it encroaches upon the biosphere, and this is the fundamental cost… Herman Daly I went to the land of sagebrush, towering pine trees, and clear blue skies, in 2010, to spend my sabbatical year in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno, which has the major graduate program in the U.S. devoted to Literature and Environment. 1 In the future, when I look back to this year, I will remember it as a meaningful time that gave me a unique opportunity to explore the dedicated literary activities of American ecocritics in saving the planet from ongoing environmental injustices. I will also remember it as the time when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and blighted the Earth, devastating the Gulf of Mexico. Paradoxes akin to my own experience are frequently recast in American environmental writing: on the one hand, an attitude of dominion over the land, and on the other, the strong attitude of the committed writers and the