Eco Criticism/Green Studies

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Eco Criticism/Green Studies

• Into the Wild
• CIS Literature

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Definitions

• Ecocriticism is the study of relationship between
  literature and the physical environment
  (Glotfelty)
• Newer theory on the academic margins
• More popular on the American West Coast
• First arose in the 1970s

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Intellectual Influences

• Influenced by 3 major American Writers
• Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
• Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)
• Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
• All transcendentalists from the 1840s

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Beliefs

• Reject the notion that everything is socially or
  linguistically constructed
• I.e.. it isnt the language that has a hole in
  its ozone layer (Soper)
• Repudiates belief of constructedeness
• Challenges other literary theories

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Eco Critics believe

• We must question our anthropocentric world view
  to adopt an ecocentric world view
• We should change focus, so something like
  setting is brought from the margins to the
  critical center

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What eco critics do

• Reread major literary work, with an emphasis on
  the representation of nature
• Extend the range of ecocentric concepts on things
  beyond the natural world (growth, energy,
  balance, imbalance, etc.)
• Give special emphasis to writers who foreground
  nature as a part of their subject matter
  (American Transcendentalists and British
  Romantics)

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What do Eco Critics do?

• Extend the range of literary critical practice by
  placing emphasis on relevant factual writing,
  including essays, travel writing, memoirs and
  regional literature
• Turn away from constructivism
• Emphasize ecocentric values of meticulous
  observation, ethical responsibility, and the
  claims of the earth

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Focus on the outdoor environment

• has four areas 
• wilderness, (deserts, oceans, uninhabited
  continents)
• the scenic sublime, (forests, lakes, mountains,
  cliffs, waterfalls)
• the countryside, (hills, fields, woods)
• the domestic picturesque, (parks, gardens,
  lanes)  

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Thoughts on Ecocriticism

• Ecocriticism is, like much contemporary
  criticism, a form of cultural critique,
  interdisciplinary in its tools, and its
  intentions.
• --Michael P. Cohen

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Thoughts on Ecocriticism

• Ecocritics, to do something genuinely
  meaningful, must offer readers a broader, deeper,
  and more explicit explanation of how and what
  environmental literature communicates than the
  writers themselves, immersed in their
  particularized narratives, can offer. Crucial to
  the ecocritical process of pulling things (ideas,
  texts. authors) together and putting them in
  perspective is our awareness of who and where we
  are. Our awareness, literally, of where we stand
  in the world and why we're writing.
• --Scott Slovic

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