Defining European Eco-criticism
Quelles écocritiques européennes ?
Published on Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Abstract
The aim of this international conference is to make visible the variegated sprouting of European Eco-criticism —a name that is given as a working hypothesis for the time being. American-born Eco-criticism seems to be gradually filtering into Old World languages and cultural contexts ; but it has different meanings in different places. Hence, an assessment of this major theoretical transduction appears to be highly opportune. The goal is to give a geographical dimension to this framework, and contributors are invited to investigate national, regional, and local particularities of eco-literature, be it in the guise of fiction, non-fiction, or criticism, bearing in mind that literatures outside the English-speaking world will be given priority.
Announcement
Argument
The notion of Anthropocene, though it hails from human sciences, is a growing inspiration in the field of literary ecology. Indeed far from being a mere reflection of the ideas of the time, literature may contribute in a spontaneous and self-prompted manner to the establishment of its own values and notions, to such an extent that “literary ecology” has progressively stopped being an object of wonder, in the context of the collective elaboration of ecological thought —somewhere at the crossroads of sciences, politics, and imagination. Ethics, even more than fact, is a crucial part of this process of elaboration, and as such, it urges us to take into account the relative importance of elements of speech, of imagination, of rhetoric when the environment is at stake.
The aim of this symposium is to make visible the variegated sprouting of European Eco-criticism —a name that is given as a working hypothesis for the time being. American-born Eco-criticism seems to be gradually filtering into Old World languages and cultural contexts (Saarbrucken 2014, Rome 2015, for instance); but it has different meanings in different places. Hence, an assessment of this major theoretical transduction appears to be highly opportune. The goal is to give a geographical dimension to this framework, and contributors are invited to investigate national, regional, and local particularities of eco-literature, be it in the guise of fiction, non-fiction, or criticism, bearing in mind that literatures outside the English-speaking world will be given priority. The central question being by nature an open one, it goes without saying that those variations may also be observed from the point of view of literary genesis, themes, style and stylistics, or epistemology, history, ethics and politics. From the arts and human sciences to the natural sciences, what partner has literature chosen to tackle the environmental crisis from a transdisciplinary point of view?
This reflexive inquest into the emergence of environmental concerns within literary research also comprises the intention to study the literary implications of relatively extra-literary corollaries: the multiplication of specialised publishers or collections, of anthologies dedicated to environmental questions, the elaboration of animal and vegetable themes and motives, and the renewal and refurbishment of the question of Nature. Where does the literature of Nature nestle, not only within contemporary productions, but also in recently re-published and re-edited works perceived as centred on a Human-Natural relationship? What are the discriminating elements that dissociate those texts from the North American tradition of Nature Writing and Eco-criticism —said tradition being motivated by the appeal of an idiosyncratic wilderness—? To what extent has Europe created its own version of these North American realities, namely through the light shed on inhabited, lived-in rural spaces? Will it be through the themes of farming, agriculture, fishing, forestry?
The main theoretical lens of the papers should be comparative, whatever their use of synchrony or diachrony, or their geographical scale. A theoretical and/or interdisciplinary approach will be favoured.
Some axes are suggested:
- The variety of ecological themes in European fiction in relation with their geographical origin.
- The theoretical inventions in relation with environmental concerns: eco-critics, eco-poetics…
- Post-colonialism in eco-literature.
- Teaching and didactics: where precisely does eco-criticism spring forth in the textual teaching and study of schools and universities?
- How does eco-literature manifest itself in other media (Television, Cinema, Comics…)
Submission guidelines
Paper propositions must be sent at the following address, colloque.ecolitt@gmail.com,
by 1st december 2015
along with a short biography and bibliography of the author.
Date and place
Université d’Angers, 28-30 June 2016
Scientific Committee
- Anne-Rachel Hermetet (Université d'Angers)
- Bertrand Guest (Université d'Angers)
- Stéphanie Posthumus (McGill University)
- Anne-Gaëlle Weber (Université d'Artois)
- Daniel Finch-Race (University of Cambridge)
Subjects
- Europe (Main category)
- Mind and language > Language > Literature
- Periods > Modern > Twentieth century
- Periods > Modern > Twenty-first century
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology > Epistemology
- Periods > Modern > Prospective
- Society > Geography > Nature, landscape and environment
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology > Corpus approaches, surveys, archives
Places
- Maison de la Recherche Germaine Tillion - 5 bis boulevard Lavoisier
Angers, France (49045)
Date(s)
- Tuesday, December 01, 2015
Keywords
- écocritique, écopoétique, ecocriticism, ecopoetic
Contact(s)
- Colloque Ecolitt
courriel : colloque [dot] ecolitt [at] gmail [dot] com
Reference Urls
Information source
- Bertrand Guest
courriel : bertrand [dot] guest [at] univ-angers [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Defining European Eco-criticism », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, October 06, 2015, https://doi.org/10.58079/t20
