Literature and Ecology
EN4267 Literature and Ecology
Literature and Ecology, an Honors Level module, explores the connections between literature and the environment. Through the course of the semester, we discuss the diverse ways in which human ‘literature and culture’ have connected with the non-human world.
Ecocriticism and the Climate Crisis
In the midst of our current environmental crisis that involves ozone depletion, global warming, desertification, and the terrible treatment of animals through factory farming and hunting for profit, one of the most topical literary fields, which is of great contemporary relevance is ecocriticism. This module will trace the development of the field of ecocriticism through a study of literary and cultural texts, and through relevant theoretical readings.
Nature x Literature
We will analyze texts that engage with environmental concerns. We will also examine the various ways in which literature has engaged with subject of ‘nature’. We will examine the ‘idea of nature’ through the ages and how human culture has negotiated this in multiple ways through its various literary forms. Through the semester, we will discuss various schools such as deep ecology, shallow ecology, ccofeminism, postcolonial-ecocriticism, the ideas they advance regarding human relationship to nature, and how they contest or qualify each other’s positions. The module covers several pertinent themes such as human relationships to animals and the issue of environmental justice.
