This section looks at some of the pioneering work in ecocriticism, as well as some of the most read work introducing the subject. Meeker 1972, presenting comedy and tragedy as ecological concepts, connects literary and environmental studies as a cohesive field of study. As an ethnologist and comparative literature scholar, Meeker helped to pioneer the critical discussion of ecocriticism in what he called literary ecologies. Following Meeker, Rueckert 1996 (first published 1978) actually coined the term ecocriticism, arguing for a way to find the grounds upon which the two communitiesthe human, the naturalcan coexist, cooperate, and flourish in the biosphere (p. 107). Love 1996 builds on the work of Meeker and Rueckert by essentially anticipating the explosion of and need for ecocriticism in just a few years. Ecocriticism as a literary and cultural theory significantly expanded in the 1990sparalleling other forms of literary and cultural theory, such as postcolonialism and critical race studieslargely due to the publication of Glotfelty and Fromm 1996 (cited under Collections of Essays), the first edited collection of essays and anthology to introduce a comprehensive critical outline of ecocriticism. Buell 1995, another critically dense and timely study, outlines the trajectory of American ecocriticism by way of Henry David Thoreau as a central figure. Kerridge and Sammells 1998 (cited under Collections of Essays), which expanded studies in race and class, as well as ecocritical history, followed both Glotfelty and Fromm 1996 and Buell 1995. Phillips 2003 offers a skeptical and refreshing critique of ecocriticism amid otherwise quite praiseworthybordering on mysticalcelebrations of nature in the scholarship of the 1990s. Garrard 2012 (first published 2004), along with Coupe 2000 (under Anthologies) and Armbruster and Wallace 2001 (under Nature Writing), serves as a political and theoretical turn in ecocriticism because it addresses more of the second wave concerns about animals, globality, and apocalypse. Clark 2011 is a contemporary overview that integrates a unified critical history of the waves, including nature writing, literary periods, theory, and activism, while it also provides sample readings that deploy specific ecocritical methods to literary texts. Garrard 2014 is the most recent overview volume, with many noteworthy ecocritical scholars; it serves as a somewhat updated version of Glotfelty and Fromm 1996. (See also Anthologies and Collections of Essays for some other notable overviews.)
Buell, Lawrence. The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.
E-mail Citation
Looks back at the history of American nature writing through literary analysiswith Thoreaus Walden as a reference pointto establish a history of environmental perception and imagination. It examines how humanistic thought, particularly through literary nonfiction, can imagine a more ecocentric or green way of living. (See also Nature Writing.)
Clark, Timothy. The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
E-mail Citation
Provides updated introductory material to previous studies. It offers an excellent range of topics, and despite serving as an introduction, it employs incisive analysis of previously overlooked issues in introductory books on ecocriticism, such as posthumanism, violence, and animal studies. It is one of the best contemporary overviews.
Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism. New York: Routledge, 2012.
E-mail Citation
Examines a wide range of literary and cultural works. Two notable strengths: (1) it acknowledges the political dimension of ecocriticism; and (2) it explores a range of issues, from animal studies and definitions of wilderness and nature, to postapocalyptic narratives. It is available as an inexpensive paperback. Originally published in 2004.
Garrard, Greg, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Ecocriticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
E-mail Citation
One of the most ambitious collections to date, with thirty-four chapters, this book is aimed at both general readers and students, but it also revisits the previous twenty years of ecocriticism to offer contemporary readings from the most prominent names in the field. It is an essential work for ecocritics.
Love, Glen. Revaluating Nature: Toward an Ecological Criticism. In The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Edited by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, 225240. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996.
E-mail Citation
Argues that literary studies must engage with the environmental crisis rather than remaining unresponsive. This essay advocates for revaluing a nature-focused literature away from an ego-consciousness to an eco-consciousness (p. 232). Originally published in 1990. See also Loves Practical Ecocriticism: Literature, Biology, and the Environment (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003).
Meeker, Joseph. The Comedy of Survival: Studies in Literary Ecology. New York: Scribners, 1972.
E-mail Citation
One of the founding works of ecocriticism. It spans many centurieslooking at Dante, Shakespeare, and Petrarch, as well as E.O. Wilsonand analyzes comedy and tragedy as two literary forms that reflect forces greater than that of humans. The comedy of survival is at its core an ecological concept.
Phillips, Dana. The Truth of Ecology: Nature, Culture, and Literature in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137699.001.0001E-mail Citation
One of the more prominent critiques of ecocritical theory, this book challenges neo-Romantic themes explored by ecocritics, many of which Phillips argues support the use of mimesis as a standard way to read environments, instead of looking at more pragmatic approaches.
Rueckert, William. Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism. In The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Edited by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, 105123. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996.
E-mail Citation
Notable primarily because it was the first publication to use the term ecocriticism as an environmentally minded literary analysis that discovers something about the ecology of literature (p. 71). Originally published in 1978.
More:
Ecocriticism - Literary and Critical Theory - Oxford ...
- Screen/Print #52: Shela Sheikh Searches for New Political Vocabularies in 'And Now: Architecture Against a Developer ... - Archinect [Last Updated On: April 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 8th, 2017]
- Wiley: Posthumanism - Pramod K. Nayar [Last Updated On: June 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 20th, 2017]
- Gabriel S De Anda | Writer [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2017]
- Ecocriticism - Literary and Critical Theory - Oxford Bibliographies [Last Updated On: April 11th, 2018] [Originally Added On: April 11th, 2018]
- ETHConference2018 [Last Updated On: May 23rd, 2018] [Originally Added On: May 23rd, 2018]
- What Is The Difference Between Posthumanism And Transhumanism? [Last Updated On: April 11th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 11th, 2019]
- Posthumanism | Literature in a Wired World Wiki | FANDOM ... [Last Updated On: April 11th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 11th, 2019]
- What does posthumanism mean? - definitions.net [Last Updated On: April 11th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 11th, 2019]
- Posthumanism Theory - Technical Communication Body of ... [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2019]
- Posthumanism | Transhumanism Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2019]
- New Materialism(s) Critical Posthumanism Network [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2019]
- What is Posthumanism? - Cary Wolfe - Google Books [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2019]
- Posthumanism by Pramod K. Nayar - Goodreads [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2019]
- What is Posthumanism? The Curator [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2019]
- Home | Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care ... [Last Updated On: April 20th, 2019] [Originally Added On: April 20th, 2019]
- Posthumanism | Encyclopedia.com [Last Updated On: June 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 30th, 2020]
- Three Stories You Absolutely Must Read to Learn About Automatons (And One You Definitely Shouldn't) - tor.com [Last Updated On: August 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 10th, 2020]
- (PDF) Posthumanism - ResearchGate [Last Updated On: August 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 10th, 2020]
- What Is Posthumanism? University of Minnesota Press [Last Updated On: August 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 10th, 2020]
- Technologies that change human nature must be treated with caution - Illinoisnewstoday.com [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2021] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2021]
- Panel 1: Critical Posthumanism and Italian Cinema and ... [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2021]
- What is Posthumanism, and Why Should You Care ... [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2021]
- What Was Deconstruction? - The Chronicle of Higher Education [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2022]
- Open call: 2022 International Residency - Announcements - e-flux [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2022]
- Captive animals include pets | Opinion | dailyuw.com [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2022]
- What is Posthumanism, and Why Should You Care? | Thoughtful Play [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2022] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2022]
- The Invisible Revealed Symposium - ANSTO [Last Updated On: August 5th, 2022] [Originally Added On: August 5th, 2022]