Ecocriticism: Literature

Going Green
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
So what do you think Green Studies or
Ecocriticism means?
Remember that ecology means the study of
interactions among organisms and their
environment.
What is • The world of literary theory in
Ecocriticism? the latter part of the twentieth
century has been marked by
the appearance of numerous
innovative approaches to
reading and studying works old
and new.
• One of the most recent critical
perspectives to gain substantial
interest goes by many names
such as ecopoetics,
environmental literary criticism,
green cultural studies and more
commonly ecocriticism
 William Rueckert
• This term was first
used by William
Rueckert in his 1978
essay “Literature and
Ecology: An Experiment
in Ecocriticism” in
reference to “the
application of ecology
and ecological concepts
to the study of
literature.”
 Origins
• Ecocriticism evolved as part of The Association
for the Study of Literature and Environment
(ASLE). It was established in 1992 at a special
session of a Western Literature Association
conference in Reno, Nevada.
• ASLE now has groups in Germany, Japan, the
United Kingdom, and Korea whose purposes
include sharing of facts, ideas, and texts
concerning the study of literature and the
environment.
Ecocriticism is still evolving as
a school of criticism, but it is
possible to form some
definitions about what it is
and what it tries to do. As in
the case of its many labels,
the term does not suffer from
a shortage of definitions,
either. It seems that everyone
interested in the field has a
favorite, running from a
slightly satirical one that says
it is “the work of scholars
who ‘would rather be
hiking,’”
 CHERYLL GLOTFELTY
• CHERYLL GLOTFELTY, co-editor of a widely used
introductory textbook, The Ecocriticism Reader (1996),
maps the methods of ecocriticism. In "Literary Studies
in an Age of Environmental Crisis," she notes that
ecocriticism asks a wide-ranging set of questions, and
she insists "all ecological criticism shares the
fundamental premise that human culture is connected
to the physical world, affecting it and affected by it.
Ecocriticism takes as its subject the
interconnectedness between nature and culture,
specifically the cultural artifacts of language and
literature. "[A]s a theoretical discourse, it negotiates
between the human and the nonhuman."
 Several Definitions
Lawrence Buell: “ecocriticism is the study of literature
and environment from an interdisciplinary point of
view where all sciences come together to analyze the
environment and brainstorm possible solutions for the
correction of the contemporary environmental
situation.”
” Simon C. Estok says that ecocriticism “takes a stand
by its commitment to the natural world as an
important thing rather than simply as an object of
thematic study and by its commitment to making
connections.”
 Lawrence Buell
Lawrence Buell's interest in "the nature of environmental
representation," allows him to set out a "checklist" of four
points that characterize an "environmentally oriented work."
They are:
• The nonhuman environment is present not merely as a
framing device but as a presence that begins to suggest
that human history is implicated in natural history.
• The human interest is not understood to be the only
legitimate interest.
• Human accountability to the environment is part of the
text's ethical orientation.
• Some sense of the environment as a process rather than as
a constant or a given is at least implicit in the text.
 The Common Ground

• Despite their various points of view, its practitioners seem

to agree on some things that ecocriticism is not. For
example, they hold that it is not simply a celebration of the
pastoral or the sublime, nor is it a travelogue or an
inspirational address.
• What all these perspectives on the field have in common is
that they are nterested in examining the relationship of
literature and nature as a way to renew a reader’s
awareness of the nonhuman world and his or her
responsibility to sustain it. Sharing the fundamental
premise that all things are interrelated, they are actively
concerned about the impact of human actions on the
environment
 The Social Function
According to Gotfelty, consciousness raising is ecocriticism’s
most important task.
The formation of Poets for Living Waters in response to the
British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 is
a recent instance of such consciousness raising. Describing
itself as a poetry action group, the organization invited writers
to submit works about the disaster to
poetsforlivingwaters@yahoo.com for possible publication in
its online journal. Basing their actions on the recognition that
“the first law of ecology” is that everything is connected to
everythin gelse, its founders turned to poetry as a means of
offering a meaningful response to
the spill.
 Words that Change the World

As Brian Spears, poet and instructor at Florida Atlantic

University, noted on his blog, Poets for Living Waters won’t
stop oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, nor will it clean
the wings of pelicans or make fish able to
breathe. It won’t even cost Tony Hayward [Chief Executive
Officer of BP] his job. When it comes to real-world
effectiveness, poetry is down there with shaking a fist at the
tide. But we write it anyway, perhaps because we feel that if
our words can’t change the world, maybe they can chronicle
it in some small way. And maybe, if they’re powerful enough
words, they can convince people to take some real world
action.
 Nature and Culture
• Ecocriticism focuses on literary expression of
human experience primarily in a naturally and
consequently in a culturally shaped world.
• Ecocriticism is a literary inquiry that
"encompasses nonhuman as well as human
contexts and considerations," on which it
"bases its challenge to much postmodern
critical discourse as well as to critical systems of
the past."
 Green Reading
• “Ecocritical” or "green reading" includes a
particular set of questions:
• "How is nature represented in this text?
• How is wilderness constructed?
• How is urban nature contrasted with rural or wild
nature?
• What role does science or natural history play in a
text?
• What are the links between gender and landscape?
Is landscape a metaphor?
• How does environmental ethics or deep ecology
inform your reading?"
 More Questions
 Does the setting function simply as background, or does it
play an active role in the narrative? If it plays an active
role, how important is it in working out the narrative?
 How is nature affected by human beings in the text?
 How are the human beings affected by nature?
 How responsible are the human beings for the
environment?
 What questions does the text raise about human
interactions with nature?
 Does the text direct the reader’s interest to nature, or only
to the human characters?
 Does the text raise the reader’s awareness of the natural
world and his or her connections to it?
Can "nature writers" represent trees?

• In the broadest terms, as Glen Love or Cheryll

Glotfelty argue rather pithily, the ecocritic says
yes and speaks for literature as if it had trees
in it, for good reasons, and as if the
nonhuman environment were an actor.
 The Importance of ‘Eco’
• By positing connection and relationship, it
permits interdisciplinary work to gain
authority and analytic power from disciplines
outside one's own. At bottom, ecocriticism
needs to import scientific authority in order to
combat two positions, 1) that culture can be a
refuge from nature, and 2) that nature is
merely a cultural construction.
 Interconnectedness of Nature and
Culture
• Eco-criticism is a study of culture and cultural products that is in
some way connected with the human relationship to the
natural world. It is a response to the need for humanistic
understanding of our relationships with the natural world in age
of environmental destruction. In large part, environmental
crises are a result of humanity’s disconnection from the natural
world, brought about not only by increasing technology but
also by particularization; that is, a mentality of specialization
that fails to recognize the interconnectedness of all things. In
order to understand the connectedness of all things, one must
reconnect the disciplines that have become sundered through
over-specialization.
 Ecocritical Terms and Concepts
• Greening: focusing on environmental awareness
• Ecocentrism: Humans (all species) are all equal and
interconnected
• Anthropocentrism: Analyzing the world with humans as
superior
• Anthropomorphism: Giving non humans, human qualities
• Ecophobia: When you fear the natural world
• Bioregionalism: Political/ Cultural system defined through
nature and areas called "bioregions"
• Biophilia: Relationship/connection between nature and
humans
• Ecopoetics: Poetry based around nature or an environmental
message image
 anthropocentrism
• ‘anthropocentrism : the assumption or view that the
interest of humans are of higher priority than those of non-
humans. Often used as an antonym for biocentrism
or ecocentrism. Can cover a multitude of possible
positions., from positive conviction
(strong anthropocentrism) that human instersts should
prevail, to the belief that zero-degree anthropocentrism is
not feasible or desirable (weak anthropocentrism). So it is
entirely possible without hypocrisy to
maintain biocentric values in principle while recognizing
that in practice must be constrained by anthropocentric
considerations, whether as a matter of strategy or as a
matter of intractable self-interestedness.
 Biocentrism
• biocentrism : the view that all organisms,
including humans, are part of a larger biotic web
or network or community whose interests must
constrain or direct the human interest. Used as a
semi-synonym for ecocentrism and in antithesis
to anthropocentrism. But even most self-
identified biocentrists or ecocentrists recognise
these ethical paradigms as ideals toward which
we strive, rather than actualities likely to be
implemented in practice.
 Ecocentrism
• Ecocentrism : the view in environmental ethics that the
interest of the ecosphere must override that of the
interest of individual species. Used like the semi-
synonymous biocentrism in antithesis to
anthropocentrism, but whereas biocentrism refers
specifically to the world of organisms, ecocentrism
points to the interlinkage of the organismal and the
inanimate. Ecocentrism covers a range of possible
specific ecophilosophies. In general, ecocentrists hold
that ‘the world is an intrinsically dynamic,
interconnected web of relations” with “no absolute
dividing lines between the living and the nonliving,
the animate and the inanimate”.
 Nature
• Nature: There are two main definitions of nature. The first is dualistic, in
which n ature is limited to what is not human or cultural, or not disturbed
by humanity and society. Thus plastic is not part of nature. To be natural is
to be free of human imprint. The second is monistic, used by the natural
sciences, in which nature includes everything in the phenomenal world.
Only the supernatural is excluded from the natural. In this case, plastic is
part of nature. In each case, nature could be seen as having instrumental
value only, or as having intrinsic (moral, aesthetic, spiritual) value. {See
nature and the sacred, wild, wilderness.}
• Culture Metaphorically, a cultivation (agri-cultura); the cultivation of
values; by extension, a body of values cultivated, See Raymond Williams,
Culture and Society, 1780–1950 (1959) and The Long Revolution (1961).
More recently, sociologists and anthropologists have employed the term
to denote the totality of customs and institutions of a human group
 Nature and the sacred
• Nature and the sacred: Nature has been presented as sacred in several
ways in nature writing. In some writings nature is a “sacred other.” In this
case nature is sacred because it is extra-ordinary & pristine. These are
places not to live in but journey to and return from. Thus it is related to
the traditions of pilgrimage and wilderness. In other writings it is nature
that one is intimate with and committed to that is sacred. The ideal is a
deep sense of “place” and being “at home” on the earth. Bioregionalism is
an expression of this view. Still other writings are monistic and inclusive:
everywhere is sacred, even environmentally degraded areas. Some writers
combine more than one notion of sacred nature. A number of themes are
common in spiritual nature writing. Nature is often seen as characterized
by interrelatedness, vitalism, ongoing creation, vastness, and mystery.
Spiritual awareness of nature is often characterized by focused attention
and energy, open receptivity, loss of distinction between subject/object,
direct perception, and a focus on the present. In addition, nature
spirituality often exhibits social and political dimensions. {See
bioregionalism, nature, wild, and wilderness.}
 Wilderness
• Wilderness: A specific location which has remained (for the
most part) wild. It is thus separate from and largely
unaffected by humans. As such it usually involves a dualistic
view of nature. These are places you visit (without the aid
of human machinery), rather than a place you live in as
home. Puritans thought of wilderness as a chaotic and
dangerous wasteland, which needed to be walled off or
turned into a human-designed garden. In nature writing,
environmental philosophy, and environmental protection
legislation, wilderness is usually considered to have its own
spontaneous order as well as having intrinsic aesthetic,
moral, and spiritual value which should be preserved. {See
nature, nature and the sacred, wild.}
 Puritan view of the wilderness
• Nature as chaotic “wilderness”: One of the most negative Western views
of the natural world. It is associated particularly with the early period of
Puritanism. It combines the transcendental dualism of Platonism with a
biblical sense of the Fall from Garden of Eden. The expulsion of Adam and
Eve was not simply their individual fall from grace; all of Creation fell with
them. In this view, nature is a dangerous and even demonic wasteland,
antithetical to what is properly human and spiritual. The American Pilgrim
William Bradford saw nothing “but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full
of wild beasts and wild men” and the Puritan John Cotton spoke of nature
as “a wild field where all manner of unclean and wild beasts live and feed.”
This wilderness is wild, in the sense of lacking order, stability, or control. It
is also unintelligible because we cannot understand any structure or
pattern or design. Given this view of nature as wilderness, the ideal
became a garden. Wilderness needed to be conquered and transformed
into a human constructed and ordered realm of nature, a new Eden. Such
a garden would have both rational and spiritual order, and thus is
understandable, controllable, and has religious value.
 Nature writing.
• Nature writing. Simply put, nature writing is any written
work that deals significantly with nature and the human-
nature relationship. It usually combines scientific attention
to nature, aesthetic sensitivity, spiritual feeling, and literary
appeal. There are seven main elements of nature writing:
accounts of nature, personal experience of nature,
philosophy of nature, ecological psychology, the social
experience of nature, ecosocial politics, and spirituality.
Some texts may focus on one or two of these elements;
complex texts may include most or all of these elements.
Nonfiction personal essay has been the most common
form, but poetry, fiction, letters, and even testimony before
Congress may be considered nature writing. {See
ecocriticism, natural history.
 Wild
• Wild: A quality or condition. Something wild is spontaneously self-
generating, self-regulating, and freely living according to its inner
nature and aimed at its natural fulfillment, uncontrolled by outside
force such as human will. Wilderness areas are by definition wild,
but the wild can be found anywhere, e.g., cities or the human body.
Humans have the potential to be wild if they act not by their
rational will but by their true inner nature. Traditionally the wild has
been seen as inherently disorderly and chaotic, because it lacks any
externally imposed control or design. In this view, what is wild
needs to be tamed and controlled. But for many nature writers,
because the wild exists according to its own inner nature, it exhibits
a spontaneous, emergent order, and has intrinsic value. {see
nature, nature and sacred, wilderness}
 Ecofeminism
• A contemporary radical school of environmental philosophy. It
emphasizes the similar ways nature and women have been
conceptualized, devalued, and oppressed. It also asserts the close
interrelationship between environmental and social issues.
Androcentrism (male-centeredness, masculinism) is a fundamental
problem that must be addressed if we are to end the subjugation of
nature and women. The ideal involves a recognition of the value of
the individual as part of a community, in which great value is placed
on diversity, equality, and interrelatedness. The self is seen as
embedded in a community, place, and the body. Cultural
ecofeminism prizes the special, essential relationship between
women and nature. Radical ecofeminism rejects any essentialist tie
between women and nature as a social construction. Instead it
deconstructs any transcendental dualism in which one gender, race,
or class is considered closest to nature and of highest value.