Not an expert in ecocriticism? Not a problem! The below key terms, definitions, and historical overview will make the literary perspectives clearer in the next page!

History of Ecocriticism

Ecocriticism was initially recognized in the 1960s, beginning as a response to the environmental activism and publication of Rachel Carlson’s novel Silent Spring. By the 1980s, ecocriticism had solidified itself as a prominent part of literature as more nature writers began to be direct advocates for environment reform.

Two waves were documented: one in the 1980s and one in the 1990s. The first wave in the 1980s focused on human-nature relationships and asserted the idea that writers had a duty to include this area of study in humanities. The second wave, occurring in the 1990s, expanded activism and advocacy by breaking up different focuses of ecocriticism in categories: human, non-human, nature, non-nature, and environmental justice.

Nowadays, ecocriticism is far from simple or neutral. There are plenty of subcategories to study such as ecofeminism, pastoral, apocalypse, bioregionalism, anthropomorphism (giving animals or other non-human entities human characteristics), and more. The diversity of ecocriticism encourages us to reimagine our relationship with nature while also finding ways to connect this area to other forms, disciplines, and modes of literature.

Defining Ecocriticism and Key Terms

Anthropocentrism

The idea that humans are superior to nature.

Bioregionalism

A term used to describe human life through various natural areas, where sustainability is the focus rather than politics.

Ecocriticism

A critical study in literature that examines the relationship between humans, nature, and the environment, focusing on how these interactions influence the world around us.

Pastoral

A literary mode that fantasizes rural living, contrasting peace, open land, and simplicity and industrialization, busyness, and corruption.

Apocalyptic

A narrative structure that warns of future environmental chaos and expresses how human decisions cause the destruction of nature.

Ecofeminism

A subcategory of ecocriticism that studies the connection between patriarchy and environmental destruction.

Environmental Imagination

Coined by Lawrence Buell in 1995, this term explores how literature and cultural narratives idealize, demonstrate, and form our relationships with the non-human world.

Interconnection

The idea that all physical forms are linked, such as human, plants, animals, and Earth, concluding that humans also affect the physical environment.