Ecocriticism: Basic concern

It is well-known fact that 21 st century world in which we reside in is more of capitalism and everything is being visualized in terms of yielding capital without keeping in view its drastic consequences or other changes that it is making in our everyday life. Therefore, domination of capitalism has smoothened the way for consumerism in the society. Production in this constructive variety has caused havoc in this universe because whatever man is generating has nearly the modern industrial effect on the environment. So, the capacity of capitalistic economy always tries to maintain the market of monopoly by neglectingthe ecological concerns which he thinks are trivial, without knowing its cause and effect on this planet. This act has not only adversely affected humanity but other species too whose rights man has curbed down from centuries. Therefore, it has become clear that 21 st century human being has virtually neglected the ecological aspect of the things created by God as he submitted his will to the modern industrial developments and hardly exchanges anything towards other issues, whether it is humanism, animalism or the talk about other species including trees etc. Hence, by neglecting their individuality, culture, history and identity he forgot that the cosmos in which he lives in has a specific purpose. In this relation environmental aspects in literature have always been neglected and so far no specific heed has been given whether literature does speak about the ecological issues or not and is literature a remedy to fight with all the ecological issues that we are caught in? Thus, this paper highlightshow ecocriticism is emerging as a new literary phenomenon of 21 st century to highlight the environmental concerns discussed in literary texts and how ecocriticism is a way ahead for 21 st century people to pay heed towards the ecological issues so that anthropocentric attitude could be changed into ecocentric attribute to save this sinking boat. Full Length Paper Ecocriticism though new field in the academic discipline has its roots in 1970 but it got evolved during 1990s, therefore, is a new area to be studied within the praxis of ecology. In order to highlight the need and importance of ecocriticism scholars are still engaged in defining the scope and aims of the subject. Cheryll Glotfelty, one of the pioneers in the field, has defined ecocriticism as ―the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment,‖ and Laurence Buell says that this study must be ―conducted in a spirit of commitment to environmentalist praxis.‖ David Mazel declares it is the analysis of literature ―as though nature mattered.‖ Therefore, argued that it cannot be performed without a keen understanding of the environmental crises of modern times and thus must inform personal and political actions; it is, in a sense, a form of activism. Many critics also emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the enquiry, which is informed by ecological science, politics, ethics, women's studies, Native American studies, and history, among other academic fields. Ecocriticism a term was coined by William Rueckert in 1978 has changed the concept of reading literature in terms of showing its concerns towards the environment. Rueckert has shown

During the last few decades, Environment has posed a great threat to human society as well as the mother earth. The extensive misuse of natural resources has left us at the brink of ditch. The rainforests are cut down, the fossil fuel is fast decreasing, the cycle of season is at disorder, ecological disaster is frequent now round the globe and our environment is at margin. Under these circumstances, there arose a new theory of reading nature writing during the last decade of the previous century called Ecocriticism. It is a worldwide emergent movement which came into existence as a reaction to man's anthropocentric attitude of dominating nature. The present paper seeks to explore the ecocritical perspectives as envisaged in some select world literature as well as Indian writing in English. This environmentally oriented study of literature brings about an ecological literacy among the readers who in the process become ecoconscious, thereby taking good care of Mother Nature. Environmental concern being one of the major concerns of the day, Ecocriticism has undergone rapid development during its short tenure since introduction. It is interpretive tool of analyzing nature writing which is commonly

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.

TJES, 2024

Relationship between literature and ecology has a long tradition. Scholars and researchers have often carried out studies to explore ecological concerns of the writers in literary texts. Nature is the source of our life. However, the mindless exploitation of the Earth for unlimited human needs is indeed a great threat to the planet as a whole. Humans should not think that they are the only creatures to live and dominate other biotic and ecological systems. Sustainable development can only bring peace to the environment and the humans though industrialization and modernization are also essential for a better society. Ecocriticism as a mode of study interprets the literary texts to explore the visions embedded in them. It draws on theoretical insights and precision of ethics, ecosophy, environmentalism, Anthropocene, Apocalypse, Deep ecology, and posthumanism for a worthwhile analysis and interpretation of literary texts. This paper is an effort to discuss a historical and conceptual understanding of ecocriticism, and how it can be a useful method of study of texts representing environmental issues. Ecocriticism is a tool for environmental discussion, designed to analyse the text’s orientation both to the world it imagines and to the world in which it takes shape. As far as the question of environment and sustainability is concerned, literature raises a lot of issues to determine the ecological problems of our society due to the faults in our knowledge systems and the prevalent traditions. In this paper, we have referred to the ideas and arguments of William Rueckert, Greg Garrard, Rachel Carson, Stewart Lee Udall, Lawrence Buell, Donald Worster, Ursula K. Heise, Paul Crutzen, Arne Naess, Barry Commoner, Aldo Leopold Rosi Braidotti, Cary Wolfe, Jonathan Bate, Neil Carter, Cheryll Glotfelty, Paul W. Taylor and so on to work out a conceptual framework for fruitful interpretation of literary texts. Keywords: : Ecocriticism, Environmentalism, Deep Ecology, Anthropocene, Apocalypse, Posthumanism, Ecosophy, etc.

The purpose of this paper is to give some theoretical premises of ecocriticism which studies the relations between environment and literature and researches how ecological values may influence different categories of the text. Ecocriticism also examines human perception of nature and human relation with nature, as well as other environmental issues in literature. Starting from the supposition that, nowadays, the aim and the survival of literature is often questioned, ecocriticism tries to justify the functionality of literature by means of the theory that the environmental situation is reflected in literary texts, that literary texts may contribute to the change and improvement of the environmental situation, and that they may have an ecological function in the society. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to present hypotheses of environmental literary criticism and its field of study in order to stress the importance of this area of research as well as its methodology. In this way, the authors intend to contribute to placing more emphasis on the importance of ecocriticism and to framing the literary tradition in the context of environmental sustainability.

The Future of Ecocriticism: New Horizons, 2011

2010

In recent years, ecocriticism has become one of the most visible and productive new directions of literary and cultural studies. Having originated in the United States as a minor, mostly regional form of environmentally oriented approach in the late 20 th century, it has since spread throughout literature departments, and become a successful new branch of the humanities not only in the U.S. and Europe but worldwide. At first, ecocriticism met with considerable resistance at first from a scholarly community that was deeply shaped by the theoretical fields of cultural studies, poststructuralism, and postmodernism 1. However, it has gained increasing recognition as an important new field of research and teaching that opens up a broad spectrum of new perspectives and that can help to reaffirm the relevance and responsibility of the humanities and of literary studies at a time when the process of globalization, and the concomitant globalization of knowledge and science, continue to be interpreted in primarily economic and technological terms. One of the most promising directions of ecocriticism, which has developed especially in Europe, is the approach of Cultural Ecology. From the perspective of the theory of science, Peter Finke"s Ökologie des Wissens (Ecology of Knowledge) is perhaps the most systematic presentation of this theory, which posits ecology as a paradigmatic perspective of knowledge not only for the natural sciences, but for cultural studies as well. Such an ecology of knowledge implies a unifying perspective in the sense that it brings together the various cultures of knowledge that have evolved in history, and that have been separated into more and more specialized disciplines and subdisciplines in the evolution of modern science. Indeed, if ecocriticism is fundamentally concerned with the relationship between culture and nature, then it must necessarily also face up to the challenge of a new dialogue between the "two cultures" of the natural sciences and the humanities. Disciplines on both sides of the divide thereby turn into "shifting hybrid domains," in which traditional disciplinary boundaries are blurred (Wilson Consilience 10). At the same time, this drive for the 1 There is, however, no binary opposition between the epistemologies of postmodernism and ecology, as Linda Hutcheon has pointed out, and as the later writings of Lyotard and Derrida among others demonstrate (Lyotard, Derrida).

Nature, Literature and the Environment: Ecocriticism Analysis

Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, 2011