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Works Cited
Name:
Joshi Riddhi
Topic:
Eco-Criticism and Feminist Criticism
Roll
no: 30
Paper
no 7: Literary Theory and Criticism -2
M.A:
Sem-2
Enrolment
no. : 2069108420180028
Year:
2017-19
Submitted
to:
S.B.
Gardi Department of English
Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji
Bhavnagar
University
Ecocriticism
Ecocriticism is the study based on literature and environment from an
interdisciplinary point of view, where literature students or scholar analyze
the texts that connected with environmental concerns and examine the various
ways literature woven with the subject of nature. Ecocriticism is an umbrella
term under which a variety of approaches fall that is why it's make it a
difficult term to define. As ecocritic Lawrence Buell says, ecocriticism is an
"increasingly heterogeneous movement". But, "simply put,
ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the
physical environment" (Glotfelty xviii).
Ecocriticism as an academic discipline began in earnest in the 1990s, although
its roots go back to the late 1970s. Ecocriticism is a new area of study,
scholars are still engaged in defining the range and aims of the subject.
David Mazel said that it is the analysis of literature "as though nature
mattered." Ecocriticism argued that it cannot be applied without a
deep understanding of the environmental crises of modern times and thus must
inform personal and political actions. 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. The term “ecocriticism” was coined in
1978 by William Rueckert in his essay “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in
Ecocriticism.” Interest in the study of nature writing and with reading
literature with a focus on “green” issues grew through the 1980s, and by the
early 1990s ecocriticism had emerged as a recognizable discipline within
literature departments of American universities.
In study of Ecocriticism primitivism in antiquity, Arthur Lovejoy
observes that "one of the strangest, most potent and most persistent
factors in Western thought, the use of the term 'nature' to express the
standard of human values, the identification of the good with that which is
'natural' or 'according to nature. Ecocriticism is the youngest of the
revisionist movements that have swept the humanities over the past few years.
It was only in the 1990s that is began to gain impetus, first in the United
States and in the United Kingdom, as more and more literary scholars began to
ask what their filed has to contribute to our understanding of the unfolding
environmental disaster.
Ecocriticism is represented in the United States by the Association for the
Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE). This organization holds biennial
meetings for ecocritics. The official journal of the ASLE,
Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (ISLE), represents the
latest in scholarship on ecocritism. while we reading some text in context of
ecocriticism some questions are arrives in our minds likes How is nature
expressed in this piece? How important is physical plant to the plot? Are the
values represented in the text consonant with "green" thinking? Do
literary metaphors for land have an impact on how we treat the land? What
constitutes nature writing? If class, race and gender are critical categories,
shall place become another such category? Are there differences in the way men
and women write about nature? Has literacy changed man's bond to nature? Is the
crisis with the environment represented in literature, and how has this
affected man's relationship to the ecology? Are United States government
reports influenced by a particular ecological view? How has ecology impacted
the study of literature?
Tough these questions hint at a very wide area of inquiry on different levels,
there is a single basic premise in ecological criticism : that all of human
culture is linked to the physical world and is affected by and has an effect on
the natural world. The ecocritic's job is to negotiate between that which is
human and that which is nonhuman.
Most ecocritics are driven by the idea that humans are nearing the end of
their environmental resources. They see everything as a consequence of how
humans have damaged the basic life-support system of the planet. With this
awareness at the forefront, the ecocritic yearns to take part in restoring the
environment not just from time to time but at all times, in every discipline,
including the study of literature.
Historian Donald Worster believes that scholars in the
humanities can play a important role in this work. "Getting through the
crisis requires understanding our impact on nature as precisely as possible,
but even more, it requires understanding those ethical systems and using that
understanding to reform them," he says. "Historians, along with
literary scholars, anthropologists, and philosophers, cannot do the reforming,
of course, but they can help with the understanding."
Those immersed in the study of literature have the habit of dealing into point
of view, language, tradition, meaning and value. Through these perspectives,
the literary scholar may use ecocriticism to further awareness of the
environment and the ecology. Eco criticism focuses attention on a matter that
is acknowledged by most to be of critical importance in the modern world.
Ecocritics ask questions like:
•
“How is nature represented in this sonnet?
•
What role does the physical setting play in the plot of this novel?
•
Are the values expressed in this play consistent with ecological wisdom?
•
How do our metaphors of the land influence the way we treat it?
•
How can we characterize nature writing as a genre?” (Glotfelty xviii-xix)
Interconnections:
•
“Ecocriticism takes as its subject the interconnections between nature
and culture, specifically the cultural artifacts of language and
literature. As a critical stance, it has
one foot in literature and the other on land; as a theoretical discourse, it
negotiates between the human and the nonhuman” (Glotfelty xix).
Ecosystem vs. Ethical System:
•
“We are facing a global crisis today, not because of how ecosystems
function but rather because of how our ethical systems function. Getting through the crisis requires
understanding our impact on nature as precisely as possible, but even more, it
requires understanding those ethical systems and using that understanding to
reform them. Historians, along with
literary scholars, anthropologists, and philosophers, cannot do the reforming,
of course, but they can help with the understanding” (Worster, quoted by
Glotfelty xxi).
The Big Eco-Heads
Ecocriticism is a young literary theory. Just a toddler, really. (Spell
check won't even allow the word yet). So there's still a lot of work to do, and
few scholars who're doing it. For now.
As of Shmoop-O'Clock Today, we've got this short-list batting for Team
Ecocriticism:
·
Lawrence Buell. He
thinks we lack imagination when we analyze nature. He's on that whole,
"not every pig is a fascist just because Orwell said it was"
bandwagon.
·
Serpil Opperman. Ole
Serpy stresses the need for this theory to be interdisciplinary. Like, how are
we supposed to wrap our little minds around the real meaning of the tree in A
Tree Grows in Brooklyn if we don't even understand how Photosynthesis works?
·
Dana Phillps. This
guy thinks we over-romanticize nature, and that contemporary nature writing is
basically a crock. He'd really like for us to re-think what we mean when we use
the word nature to begin with, actually.
These three proud lit crit parents don't always get along. But they all
agree on one central notion: both our imaginations and understandings of the
environment expand when we dissect the relations between the human, the natural
world, and the text.
Feminist
Criticism
Feminist literary criticism is informed by feminist theory, or by the politics
of feminism more broadly. it can be understood as using feminist principles and
ideological discourses to critique the language of literature, its structure
and being. Feminism represented the and analyze the ways in which literature
portrays the narrative of male domination in regard to female bodies by
exploring the economic, social, political, and psychological forces embedded
within literature.
Feminist criticism concern itself with stereotypical representations of
genders. It also may trace the history of relatively unknown or undervalued
women writers, potentially earning them their rightful place within the
literary canon, and helps create a climate in which women's creativity may be
fully realized and appreciated.
One will frequently hear the term "patriarchy" used among feminist
critics, referring to traditional male-dominated society. "Marginalization"
refers to being forced to the outskirts of what is considered socially and
politically significant; the female voice was traditionally marginalized, or
discounted altogether. Black
literary feminist scholars began to emerge, in the post-Civil Rights era of the
United States, as a response to the masculine-centric narratives of Black
empowerments began to gain momentum over female voices. Although not a
”critical” text, The Black Woman: An Anthology, edited by Cade (1970) is seen
as essential to the rise of Black literary criticism and theory. It’s
compilation of poems, short stories and essays gave rise to new institutionally
supported forms of Black literary scholarship. The literary scholarship also
included began with the perception of Black female writers being under received
relative to their talent. The Combahee River Collective released what is called
one of the most famous pieces in Black literary scholarship known as "A
Black Feminist Statement" (1977), which sought to prove that literary
feminism was an important component to black female liberation.
Hazel Carby, Barbara Christian, bell hooks, Nellie McKay, Valerie Smith,
Hortense Spillers, Eleanor Traylor, Cheryl Wall and Sheryl Ann Williams all
contributed heavily to the Black Feminist Scholarship during the 1980s. During
that same time, Deborah E. McDowell published New Directions for Black Feminist
Criticism, which called for a more theoretical school of criticism versus the
current writings, which she deemed overly practical. As time moved forward,
theory began to disperse in ideology. Many deciding to shift towards the
nuanced psychological factors of the Black experience and further away from
broad sweeping generalizations. Others began to connect their works to the
politics of lesbianism. Some decided to analyze the Black experience through
their relationship to the Western world. Regardless, these scholars continue to
employ a variety of methods to explore the identity of Black feminism in literature.
The alternative feminist reading resists all ideological and linguistic
impositions. Therefore, now, the notion of an all-powerful author is totally
demystified. This is the most important contribution of feminist literary
criticism to the literary studies that ties it so closely with postmodern
awareness. In this respect, feminist literary criticism has not only achieved a
revision of the literary canon, but also emerged as one of the most challenging
critical theories in the rethinking of all literary conventions. Thus, feminist
literary criticism has been a revisionist theoretical movement within literary
studies.
Feminism may be described as a body of thought which suggests that women have
been and are disadvantaged in both past and contemporary societies. Feminists
emphasize the extent to which societies are in several respects patriarchal:
that is the societies are dominated by men who oppress and exploit women.
There are several varieties of Feminism but all stress the exploitation of
women. They argue that it is vital to clarify the meanings of the concepts of
sex and gender respectively; that powerful processes of gender socialization operate
to the disadvantage of women; that female students have been disadvantage in
education; and that women are exploited at work, in the family and in society
generally where they may often face sexual harassment and male violence.
Nature as Actor in Drama:
•
“Worster and other historians are writing environmental histories, studying
the reciprocal relationships between humans and land, considering nature
not just as the stage upon which the human story is acted out, but as an actor
in the drama” (Glotfelty xxi).
First Stage in Fem/Eco Criticism:
•
The “images of women” stage, “concerned with representations,
concentrating on how women are portrayed in canonical literature.”
•
“Analogous efforts in ecocriticism study how nature is represented in
literature. “
•
Stereotypes of nature: “Eden, Arcadia, virgin land, miasmal swamp, savage
wilderness”
•
Absences are important: “where is the natural world in this text?”
(xxiii)
Second Stage in Fem/Eco Criticism:
•
The “women’s literary tradition stage…serves the important function of consciousness
raising as it rediscovers, reissues, and reconsiders literature by women.”
•
Ecocriticism reconsiders “neglected genre of nature writing.”
•
Ecocritics draw from “existing critical theories—psychoanalytic, new
critical, feminist, Bakhtinian, deconstructive…” (xxiii)
Third Stage in Fem/Eco Critcisim:
•
The “theoretical phase, which is far reaching and complex, drawing on a
wide range of theories to raise fundamental questions about the symbolic
construction of gender and sexuality within literary discourse.”
•
“Analogous work in ecocriticism includes examining the symbolic
construction of species. How has
literary discourse defined the human?” (xxiv)
Anthropocentric v. Biocentric:
•
“In ecology, man’s tragic flaw is his anthropocentric (as opposed to
biocentric) vision, and his compulsion to conquer, humanize, domesticate,
violate, and exploit every natural thing” (Rueckert 113).
•
Anthropocentric: “assumes the primacy of humans, who either sentimentalize or dominate the
environment” (Martin 217-218)
•
Biocentric: “decenters humanity’s importance… explores the complex interrelationships
between the human and the nonhuman…” (Martin 218)
Three Approaches:
•
Domination Model: “The anthropocentric view…exemplified both by the pastoral and the
literature of territorial expansion…humans dominate the environment”
•
Caretaking Model: “…still anthropocentric, positions humans as caretakers of the earth.”
•
Biocentric Model: “rejects anthropocentric views… [explores the] connectedness of all
living and nonliving things.” (Martin 218)
Rhizomatic Thinking:
•
“A rhizome has no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between
things, interbeing, intermezzo.
The tree is filiation, but the rhizome is alliance, uniquely alliance”
(Deleuze and Guattari 1609).
•
Rhizomatic thought: a rambling
nonhierarchical network, without genesis or endpoint; the rhizome is
subterranean, interconnected, associative, omnidirectional, always in the
process of becoming.
•
The rhizome is a useful ecocritical tool; it expands theoretical possibilities by
dismantling hierarchical thought and proposing a generative, egalitarian model.
Roots of “ecocritic”:
•
Interestingly, ecocritic William Howarth draws our attention to the roots
of “ecocritic”: “Eco and critic both derive from Greek, oikos
and kritis, and in tandem they mean ‘house judge,’ . . . So the oikos
is nature, a place Edward Hoagland calls ‘our widest home,’ and the kritos
is an arbiter of taste who wants the house kept in good order…” (Howarth 69).
•
Works Cited
•
Deleuze,
Gilles and Guattari, Felix. A
Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Excerpt from Introduction: Rhizome. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2001. Print.
•
Glotfelty,
Cheryll. “Introduction.” The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in
Literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll
Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. The
University of Georgia Press: Athens, 1996.
Print.
•
Howarth,
William. “Some Principles of
Ecocriticism.” The Ecocriticism
Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology.
Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm.
The University of Georgia Press: Athens, 1996. Print.
•
Martin,
Michelle. “Eco-edu-tainment: The
Construction of the Child in Contemporary Environmental Children’s
Music.” Wild Things: Children’s
Culture and Ecocriticism. Ed.
Sidney Dobrin and Kenneth Kidd.
Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004. Print.
•
Rueckert,
William. “Literature and Ecology: An
Experiment in Ecocriticism.” The
Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. The University of Georgia Press: Athens,
1996. Print.
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