Ecocriticism
“Ecocriticism” designates the critical writings that explore the relations between literature and the biological and physical environment, conducted with an acute awareness of the damage being wrought on that environment by human activities. It was first originated by Joseph Meeker as an idea called “literary ecology” in his The Comedy of Survival: Studies in Literary Ecology (1972). The term 'ecocriticism' was coined in 1978 by William Rueckert in his essay "Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism".
Different types of ecocriticism include pastoral, wilderness, and ecofeminism.
- Pastoral, found primarily in British and American literature, focuses on the dichotomy between urban and rural life, often idealizing nature and rural life and demonizing urban life. There are three branches of pastoral ecocriticism: classical, romantic, and American.
- Wilderness examines how the wilderness is constructed, valued, and engaged with. There are two branches of wilderness ecocriticism: Old World and New World.
- The Old World portrays the wilderness as a scary, threatening place beyond the borders of civilization and as a place of exile.
- New World portrays the wilderness as a place of sanctuary where one can find relaxation and reflection, similar to classical pastoral ecocriticism.
Ecofeminism analyzes the connection between the domination of women and the domination of nature, usually by men. It draws parallels between women and nature, which is often seen as feminine, fertile and the property of men. Ecofeminism also includes other aspects of environmental justice, such as racial environmental justice. There are two branches of ecofeminism:
The first branch of ecofeminism embraces the idea that women are inherently closer to nature than men on a biological, spiritual and emotional level. This branch is often called radical ecofeminism because it reverses the domination of men over women and nature. The second branch of ecofeminism contradicts the first, arguing that neither women nor men are more likely to connect with nature.
Key Concerns of Ecocriticism
- Reigning religions and philosophies of Western civilization are deeply anthropocentric
- Prominent in ecocriticism is a critique of binaries such as man/nature or culture/nature, viewed as mutually exclusive oppositions.
- Many Eco critics recommend, and themselves exemplify, the extension of “green reading” (that is, analysis of the implications of a text for environmental concerns and toward political action) to all literary genres, including prose fiction and poetry, and also to writings in the natural and social sciences.
- There is a growing interest in the animistic religions of so-called “primitive” cultures, as well as in Hindu, Buddhist, and other religions and civilizations that lack the Western opposition between humanity and nature and do not assign to human beings dominion over the nonhuman world.
Some of the important works of ecocritical theory are-
- Silent Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson
- Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness (1968) by Edward Abbey
- The Comedy of Survival: A Literary Ecology and a Play Ethic (1997) by Joseph W. Meeker
- Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy (2004) by Bruno Latour
- The Future of Environmental Criticism (2005) by Lawrence Buell
- Ecology Without Nature (2007) by Timothy Morton
You can read in detail about ecocriticism or green studies on Wikipedia here. I am going to share some of my readings of ecocriticism. How is the environment seen in our movies and literature?
How is the environment harmed? Generally, the layman is blamed for harming the environment. How? They are asked by the government to stop the usage of plastics. What about stopping the production of plastic? Laymen are asked to minimize the use of AC and fridges with the excuse of the ozone layer getting harmed. What about factories and multinational companies using ACs day and night? Laymen are blamed for dirty water, washing clothes, and bathing in rivers or lakes. What about the companies flowing their waste in water?
Yes, tribal people use natural resources, they eat animals. But, They use it in a required manner, nature gets time to grow, to repair itself when it is used by people. While industries and companies harm nature, there is abundance which doesn't give nature a chance to repair itself. We can take a very famous example of the Chipko movement in which people stood by nature to protect it.
Indian culture is the culture of religion. We agree with the point that God has created this world. But still, religion has become a way of polluting and harming the environment. Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most celebrated festivals. During this festival everyone brings Ganesh murti to their places and on the last day puts it in water, lake/ ocean/ river. Which harms water, pollutes it, and also to water animals. Religion originated for peace and togetherness but today it's changing its way. The celebration of every festival is full of music DJs, and yagnas which pollute the air. Devotion and destruction.
Adding to it, our festivals and new years are incomplete without crackers. It does not only harm nature but a number of new born animals die in fear, by the loud voice of crackers. Human beings are selfish, for its fun and enjoyment it stops thinking of its surroundings.
This seems contradicting to the idea of not blaming laymen. Yes definitely laymen use these products harming the environment because they're sold. Government can take legal actions against these companies for its production or should/ can make policies to control all these events which harm the environment and ecology.
We are seeing the spreading awareness about ecology and environment through movies, and the environment as a theme in movies, since the crisis of the climate are introduced. The recent S. Rajampuli’s telugu Movie RRR is talking about the importance of ‘Jal, Jameen, Jungle’ and bringing the voice of tribal. Tribal who just want nature to be protected. The movie has two environmental activist Bheem Komram and Alluri Sitarama who fought for protecting of environment.
Another movie is Robot 2.0 in which the villain is ‘Pakshiraj’ (king of birds), he in order to safeguard the earth and to make it a better place for living for birds attracts or takes away mobile phones from all over the world.
Here is a Poem by Kedarnath Singh- Vidroh. This poem strongly suggests the ways in which we are surrounded by nature and what if nature decides to resign? This seems to be great example of how we humans are overtaking nature.
आज घर में घुसा
तो वहां अजब दृश्य था
सुनिये- मेरे बिस्तर ने कहा-
यह रहा मेरा इस्तीफ़ा
मैं अपने कपास के भीतर
वापस जाना चाहता हूं
उधर कुर्सी और मेज़ का
एक संयुक्त मोर्चा था
दोनों तड़पकर बोले-
जी- अब बहुत हो चुका
आपको सहते-सहते
हमें बेतरह याद आ रहे हैं
हमारे पेड़
और उनके भीतर का वह
ज़िंदा द्रव
जिसकी हत्या कर दी है
आपने
उधर आलमारी में बंद
किताबें चिल्ला रही थीं
खोल दो-हमें खोल दो
हम जाना चाहती हैं अपने
बांस के जंगल
और मिलना चाहती हैं
अपने बिच्छुओं के डंक
और सांपों के चुंबन से
पर सबसे अधिक नाराज़ थी
वह शॉल
जिसे अभी कुछ दिन पहले कुल्लू से ख़रीद लाया था
बोली- साहब!
आप तो बड़े साहब निकले
मेरा दुम्बा भेड़ा मुझे कब से
पुकार रहा है
और आप हैं कि अपनी देह
की क़ैद में
लपेटे हुए हैं मुझे
उधर टी.वी. और फोन का
बुरा हाल था
ज़ोर-ज़ोर से कुछ कह रहे थे
वे
पर उनकी भाषा
मेरी समझ से परे थी
-कि तभी
नल से टपकता पानी तड़पा-
अब तो हद हो गई साहब!
अगर सुन सकें तो सुन
लीजिए
इन बूंदों की आवाज़-
कि अब हम
यानी आपके सारे के सारे
क़ैदी
आदमी की जेल से
मुक्त होना चाहते हैं
अब जा कहां रहे हैं-
मेरा दरवाज़ा कड़का
जब मैं बाहर निकल रहा था.
Here is my presentation which I presented in competition. It talks about how we as an individual can safeguard the environment.
Here is the paper I presented in a research paper writing competition. Its title is ‘Envirocentric Approach to Hard Times by Charles Dickens and William Wordsworth's Selected Poems’
I hope this blog is useful. Thanks for visiting.
