Publisher's Synopsis
During the past twenty-five years, ecocriticism has become an increasingly prolific field of study. Broadly speaking, ecocriticism examines historically variable concepts of nature, environments and ecological knowledge, arguing that these concepts are largely shaped by discursive representations. The volume 'Ecocriticism - Environments in Anglophone Literatures' explores the cultural, social, ethical and theoretical challenges that our understanding of nature and environment pose from a perspective within literary studies. With particular interest in Anglophone literatures, the volume takes stock of the state of the art in ecocriticism and examines literary explorations of nature, environment, ecologies and environmental knowledge with particular interest in Anglophone literatures. More specifically, the volume sheds light on historicized and localized interrelationships between nature, culture and literature and reveals how literary texts imagine new, possibly more sustainable relationships between human beings and their nonhuman environments. Jointly, the essays provide innovative and exciting perspectives on the aesthetic agency of literature as well as on the intersections between ecocriticism and postcolonial studies. As the volume brings together a wide range of interrelated perspectives on environments, ecocriticism and ethics in Anglophone literatures, it also offers didactic impulses for rethinking the role of literature in the Anthropocene.
