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INTRODUCTION TO ECOCRITICISM / GREEN STUDIES

Ecocriticism is a new and modern theory in literary criticism. It developed in the 21st century. Today, scientists are very worried about the earth and its natural resources. Modern science and technology have created many dangers for the future of humans.

Because of too much carbon dioxide, heavy use of natural gas, crude oil, and other resources, the ozone layer is getting damaged. These problems make us think seriously about how to protect the earth and environment so that we and future generations can live safely.

DEFINITION OF ECOCRITICISM

Good literature talks about the important problems of its time. Today, the biggest problem is saving our earth and nature.

Ecocriticism is a new branch of literary criticism. In this approach, critics study how literature talks about nature and environmental problems. They examine how literature helps to create balance between humans and the earth.

Ecocriticism studies the relationship between humans and nature in literature. It looks at:

Environmental problems:-

Cultural issues related to nature

Human attitudes towards nature

ORIGIN OF ECOCRITICISM

The idea of connecting ecology and literature was first introduced by Joseph Meeker. He used the term “literary ecology” in his book The Comedy of Survival: Studies in Literary Ecology published in 1972.

Later, in 1978, William Rueckert used the word “Ecocriticism” in his essay Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism.

Ecocriticism became popular in the USA in the 1980s. In the 1990s, it became popular in Europe as “Green Studies.”

It officially became an important method of studying literature after two important books were published in the mid-1990s at:

MAJOR FOLLOWERS OF ECOCRITICISM

Jonathan Bate – Father of Ecocriticism in England

Cheryll Glotfelty – Father of Ecocriticism in the USA

Laurence Coupe

Patrick D. Murphy

Raymond Williams

Ecocriticism in American and British Literature

The ideas of ecocriticism can be seen in 19th-century American writers called Transcendentalists. They loved nature, freedom, and the beauty of the wild.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau were important writers who wrote about nature.

Emerson’s book Nature (1836) talks about self-reliance and the strong influence of nature on human life.

Margaret Fuller’s book Summer on the Lakes (1843) is about her travel experiences in the American landscape. She was the first woman student at Harvard, and nature influenced her thinking.

Thoreau’s Walden (1845) describes how he lived for two years in a small hut near Walden Pond. He left modern life and returned to nature to live simply.

In the UK, ecocriticism developed from British Romantic writers of the 1790s.

Ecocriticism in Britain and America

In Britain, ecocriticism grew through institutions and books like Laurence Coupe’s The Green Studies: From Romanticism to Ecocriticism.

In America, the term used is “Ecocriticism.”

In England, the term “Green Studies” is used.

American writers mainly praised nature.

British writers warned people about environmental dangers.

Ecocriticism studies the relationship between culture and nature. Some theories say everything is created by society and language. But ecocritics do not fully agree. They believe nature also has real power and importance, not just society and language.

Nature and Wilderness

The outdoor world moves from:

Wild forests (wilderness)

Beautiful natural scenes (mountains, oceans)

Countryside life

Culture and city life

American Transcendentalists loved wild nature.

Wordsworth wrote about beautiful natural scenery.

Thomas Gray and Samuel Johnson wrote about countryside life.

Ecocritics say today there is no completely pure wilderness left because global warming and human activities affect all parts of the world. Even remote places are not fully natural anymore.

WHAT DO ECOCRITICS DO?

Ecocritics:

• Study literature from an environmental point of view.

• Examine how human life is connected to nature.

• Study civilization together with nature.

• Show how literature talks about natural resources.

• Study how human actions, wars, and industries disturb ecological balance.

EXAMPLES OF ECOCRITICISM

We can study Wordsworth’s poem Daffodils from an ecological view because it shows the poet’s love

We can study Alexander Pope’s poem Ode on Solitude from an ecological view. The poem shows how nature gives peace in modern busy life.