Analyse Texts Through The Theory Of Ecocriticism - Essay Example

Analyzing Texts through the Theory of Ecocriticism Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Introduction Ecocriticism defined broadly as the study of connection between the physical environment and literature is an emerging literary field, which started growing in earnest in the later 1980s and early 90s. The term ‘ecocriticism’ first emerged in the 1978 essay “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism," by William Rueckert's in which he used ecological standards as a model for thinking about the way literature functions (Barry, 2009). The ecocriticism framework promotes the exchange of information as well as ideas on literature and other cultural illustrations, which deem human relationship with the natural world. In spite of the large scope of inquiry as well as the disparate sophistication levels, every ecological criticism share the essential idea that individual culture is linked to the physical globe, which affects him and affects it in turn. Ecocriticism considers it as the interconnection between culture and nature, particularly literature related to culture and artifact language (Barry, 2009). As an important stand, it has one focus on land and the other one on literature as a theoretical discussion and bargains between nonhuman and human. In this essay, I will analyze texts through the theory of ecocriticism-these are texts that illuminate the way human beings interact and perceive the nonhuman environment. Discussion The main assumption of the ecocriticism theory is that the structures and ideas, which govern the interaction between the natural environment and human beings, are of critical importance in understanding ecological predicaments. Cultures are constructed and in turn construct the non-human world. The current environmental crisis is the disconcerting material expression of the modern culture’s philosophical ethical imperatives, aesthetic principles, epistemological convictions, and philosophical assumptions. Hess (2010) noted that, currently, nature in environmental culture regularly emerge as some kind of refuge intended for biological diversity, extinction species, as well as extinction types of spiritual, artistic, as well as sensual life, every one threatened by a gradually all-pervasive world and increasingly destructive social and economic organization. Nature refers to the places where human beings go, both physically and imaginatively to get away from modern life and the place where they seek to safeguard it. Hess further noted that the human being inclination to establish nature aside from themselves distorts their environmental priorities and awareness in manners, which blind them to the destructive environmental effect of their daily lives and prevent them from following practical options. As a result, Hess (2010, p. 85) asks “if we seek nature apart from our lives, how can we restructure those lives-not just individually, but socially, politically, and economically-in order to change the current patterns of environmental destruction” This shows the interconnectedness between nature and human beings. In his book, “Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory”, Barry (2002) defines ecocriticism as a critical enterprise which is rooted in environmentalist revisions of United States nature writing and 19th-century transcendentalism and of the British tradition of the later 18th century romanticism. The representation of ecocriticism is endorsed as a methodological and theoretical force, which focuses on imagined and real boundaries between culture and nature without denying the physical existence of nature. Ecocriticism re-examined the history of ethically motivated, aesthetically and ideologically conceptualization of nature, of the function of its metaphorizations and constructions in literary as well as other cultural practices and of the potential impacts these imaginative and discursive constructions have on the human beings bodies as well as the cultural and natural environment. Estok (2009, p. 10) argued that “producing a viable ecocriticism means adopting a tacit intellectual understanding that if it is sexist, then it cannot qualify as ecocriticism, since sexism goes against the spirit, goals, and vision of ecocriticism.” Ecocriticism endeavors to appraise ideas and texts with regard to their helpfulness and coherence as responses to environmental crisis. By implication, ecocriticism challenges central modernist suppositions about art and literature as ethically and aesthetically autonomous entities. Moreover, such a position necessitates an important reevaluation of the functional connection between cultural texts and their material referents, for example, a re-assessment of representation and mimesis as core categories of cultural and literary criticism. Coupe (2000) argued that the ultimate objective of ecocriticism should be to encourage resistance instead of conservation-“resistance to planetary degradation and pollution”, a politically charged demand which presumes changes in established patterns of behavior and thought brought about by an eco-critical inspection of culture discursive connection to nature. Ecocriticism thus takes as its subject the interlinkage between culture and nature. It investigates various issues such as the fundamental ecology worth, what the term nature implies, and if the assessment of “place” ought to be a distinct class, much as race or gender. It examines the individual insight on wilderness and the way it various all through history and whether or not the present ecological matters are represented correctly or even cited in modern literature and popular culture. Glotfelty and Fromm (1996) regarded ecocriticism as the investigation of the connection between physical environment and literature and one of the inherent objectives of the method is to regain proficient decorum for the underrated field of nature writing. Buell (2001) noted that ecocriticism focuses on the link between the environment and literature undertaken in the spirit of dedication to environmental praxis. Estok (2009) noted that ecocriticism has set itself apart, deliberations aside, first by the ethical position that it adapts, its dedication to the environment as a critical issue instead of just a thematic study object and secondly through its dedication to making associations. Estok (2001) argued that ecocriticism is not merely the study of natural things or nature in text; instead it is any theory which is dedicated to bringing about amends through examining the theoretical, ideological, historical, social, artistic, function-thematic of the natural setting or its various facets, embodied in literary or additional document which lead to material practices in materialistic globe. This is in line with the functional method of ecocriticism cultural ecology that analyzes the similarities between imaginative texts and ecosystems and speculates that such texts possibly have a revitalizing and regenerative function in the cultural system. Cohen (2004) suggested that if any individual wants to be an ecocritic, they should be ready to clarify what he or she does and be criticized, if not ridiculed. They share some kind of environmentalist motivation, however most of them are endorsing. Partly, this requires a collective logic of the way in which environment had been employed to legitimize racial, sexual, and gender norm, however it also entails disbeliefs of the ways that the cultural standards of nature as well as the environment lead to environment degradation. Ecocriticism comprises an “economic school of thought” because it encourages the public to talk about matters of resource allocation that do not have a scientific explanation. Curry (2008) outlined a progressive and plausible method of thinking about nature that takes critically both ecocentrism and non-essentialism. According to Curry (2008), the “modernist rationalization of the natural world, its consequent disenchantment, and subsequent commodification play an integral role in driving the ongoing global ecocrisis” (p. 3). Ecocriticism employs an earth-focuse strategy to literary learning. According to Glotflety and Fromm (1996), theorists and ecocritics ask various questions, for instance, “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?” (p. xix). The other questions include “In addition to race, class, and gender, should place become a new critical category?” “Do men write about nature differently than women do?” “in what ways has literacy itself affected humankind’s relationship to the natural world?” How has the concept of wilderness changed over time?” “In what ways and to what effect is the environmental crisis seeping into contemporary literature and popular culture? “What bearing might the science of ecology have on literary studies?” “How is science itself open to literary analysis?” “What cross-fertilization is possible between literary studies and environmental discourse in related disciplines such as history, philosophy, psychology, art, history, and ethics?” (p. xix). However, in spite of the broad scope of inquiry, human tradition is linked to the physical environment; it affects it and it influences the traditions. Ecocriticism expands the idea of “the world” to include the whole ecosphere. Getting through the crisis necessitates an understanding of the effect of nature as accurately as possible, although in addition, it calls for understanding the ethical systems and employing the knowledge to improve them. Ecocriticism is exemplified by differentiating it from other important methods. Generally, literary premise looks at the relationship between texts, writer, as well as the globe. In nearly all literary works, “the world” is the same with society-the social sphere. According to Glotflety and Fromm (1996), ecocriticism inflates the idea of “the world” to incorporate the whole ecosphere. Most ecocritical texts have a shared impetus; the disconcerting consciousness that people have arrived at the period of ecological limit, a period when the effects of individual action are causing harm to the fundamental life support system in the world. Such awareness ignites a genuine desire to add to the restoration of the environment. The current global crisis has not resulted from the way the ecosystem functions but the way the ethical systems function. Managing the crisis calls for an understanding of the impact on environment as accurately as possible, however in addition, it calls for comprehension the ethical systems as well as utilizing the understanding to transform them. Most literary researchers concentrate on questions of language, standpoint, tradition, meanings and it is in such realms that they are making a significant input to environmental thoughts. Ecologically focussed criticisms are an important endeavor mainly because they direct the attention to issues that people need to be thinking about; they raise the consciousness of people. Ecocritics encourage other people to focus on the relationship of human beings to nature, about the aesthetic and ethical dilemma brought about by environmental crisis and about how literature and language convey values that have a weighty ecological implication. By doing this, they change the way people perceive their relationship with the natural environment. Human beings are implicated in the sense of nature, and this remains an important aspect of many ecocritical projects associated with continuous campaigner link to the field, its commitment to pre-modern as well as indigenous practices, and its linkage to phenomenology. Increasingly, ecocriticism endeavors to put up multifaceted arrangement of works, which focus on post nature or post humanities, globalization, neocolonialism and environmental justice. In doing this, ecocritics continue endeavors for developing their field like a theoretical method and a means of reading and concentrating on a pre-text setting for learning the relationship between social and environmental situations. This includes the way texts themselves can be taken as helping an ecological purpose in individual exploitation as well as development of the world and other entities. Ecocriticism has started to explore expansively matters of the way texts and the subjectivity of both reader and author; in this manner, it is seen emerging as a type of “nature-text.” Ecocriticism has also contributed considerably to redefine critical theorem in a “post-theory” period, via a literal foundation of supposition across earlier humanities abstraction from the sciences. However, “at any rate, the field disquiet with placement of social and cultural narrative of what is “natural” at the centre of explanation has generated considerable occasions for contemporary western criticisms to take part less contemptuously with nature-texts from pre-modern and native culture”. These societies consider nature itself as an organization of signals that has its individual semiotics except for conceptualized human sciences codes. Estok (2009, p. 203) asserted “what has popularized and expanded the hermeneutic range of ecocriticism has in some ways also made ecocriticism seem immune to the challenges presented by so much of post structuralism.” Nonetheless, ecocriticism has found an extensive and keen audience with eco-critical project investigating cultural functions of nature, discursive performances, and aesthetic representations in socially, racially and historically diverse societies and communities. Ecocriticism has located humanity within nature. Conclusion In this essay, I have argued that ecocriticism focuses on the way human beings interact and perceive the nonhuman environment. The structures and ideas, which govern the interaction between the natural environment and human beings, are of critical importance in understanding ecological predicaments. Nature cannot be sought apart from the lives of human beings. In producing a practical ecocriticism, there is need to adopting a tacit intellectual understanding as ecocriticism seeks to assess ideas and texts with regard to their expediency and coherence as responses to ecological crisis. Ecocriticism challenges central modernist suppositions about art and literature as ethically and aesthetically autonomous entities. The connection between physical environment and literature and one of the implied objectives of the method is to regain proficient decorum for the underrated field of nature writing. For individuals to be ecocritic, have clarify what they do and get criticized, if not ridiculed. Ecocriticism employs an earth-focused strategy to literary learning. Ecocriticism is characterized by differentiating it from other important approaches. Human beings are implicated in ecocriticism in the sense of nature-and this remains an important aspect of nearly all ecocritical projects connected to continuous activist link to the field, its engagement with pre-modern as well as indigenous practices, and its linkage to phenomenology. Generally, ecocriticism has located humanity within nature. References Barry, P. (2009). "Ecocriticism." Beginning Theory. Manchester: Manchester UP. Barry, P. (2002). Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press Buell, L. (2001). Writing for an Endangered World: Literature, Culture, and Environment in the U.S. and Beyond. Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Cohen, M. (2004). Blues in Green: Ecocriticism Under Critique. Environmental History, 9(1), 9- 36. Coupe, L. (2000). The Green Studies Reader: From Romanticism to Ecocriticism. London: Routledge. Curry, P. (2008). Nature Post-Nature. New Formations, 64, 51-64 Estok, S. (2009). Theorizing in a Space of Ambivalent Openness: Ecocriticism and Ecophobia. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 16(2), 203-225 Estok, S. (2001). A Report Card on Ecocriticism. AUMLA, 96, 200-238 Glotfelty, C. & Fromm, H. (1996). The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Athens and London: University of Georgia. Hess, S. (2010). Imagining an Everyday Nature. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment, 17(1), 85-112 Read More