AN EXPLORATORY

STUDY OF ECOCRITICSM
ALI RIDHA ALI ALRUFAI
21131308007
FALL 2021-2022
ECW 501 Critical Theory
Asst. Prof. Dr. Ali Muhammadi
İSTANBUL YENİ YÜZYIL UNIVERSITY
What is ecocriticism?

ECO

Criticism

Ecocriticism
Historical Background:

 William Rueckert in 1978, called Literature and Ecology: An Experiment

in Ecocriticism.
 Cheryll Burgess Glotfelty and Harold Fromm in 1996, titled Reader:
Landmarks in Literary Ecology (1996)
Modern Ecocriticism:

 (Lawrence Buell): Ecocriticism fills the gap between text and

facts.
 (Cheryll Glotfelty ): Ecocriticism as the study of the relation
between literature and the physical environment.
 Other theorists: Ecocriticism expands the traditional categories of
race, class, gender to include a new concept called "place“.
Aspects of Ecocriticism

 Anthropocentrism : Man > Nature

 Biocentrism: Man = Nature
 Ecocentrism: Nature > Man
Methodology
 1. How is the nature represented in the sonnet?
 2. What role does the physical setting play in the plot of this
novel?
 3. Are the values expressed in this play consistent with
ecological wisdom?
 4. How do our metaphors of the land influence the way we
treat it?
 5. How can we characterize nature writing as a genre?
 6. In addition to race, class, and gender, should place
become a new critical category?
 7. Do men write about nature differently than women do?
 Example
William Blake’s Nurse’s Song:
William Blake, born in London in 1757, was a
poet and painter. He is an iconic figure in the
Romantic era during which artists and authors
reacted to the massive changes in Europe such as
The Industrial Revolution. Romantic poets and
painters were enthralled by their emotions and
sought to convey the beauty and wonder of
nature.
 Synopsis
The poem demonstrates that human activities are influenced
by the actions and potentialities of other species in the
surroundings and nature. Humans exist in a condition that is not
autonomous and unattached to other occurrences, actions, and
changes in other beings and entities. Because every species
interacts with other creatures, it may be claimed that the human
is a creature that interacts with non-human creatures and
entities, and that he is impacted by other creatures and the
environment. Additionally, the web in which humans and
nonhumans coexist is known as an ecosystem.
Leila Baradaran Jamili, Assistant Professor at Islamic Azad University
Boroujerd-Iran, says:

“Ecocentrism utters that all creatures, including human, are members

and parts of a web or system wherein they live and exist next to each
other. What is more, ecocentrism copes with the interrelation between
different members, parts, entities, and events in the ecosystem. Due to
ecosystem, all creatures and entities in the environment are related and
connected to each other, and there is not any solitary and isolated creature
which is independent of other creatures and entities. Rewardingly,
ecocentrism affirms that there is an interrelation between all creatures,
entities, and phenomena in the ecological environment.” (2017, p.20)
 Conclusion

Raising the awareness of ecological crises

Ecological awareness is :
• be informed and know the impact of our
actions and activities on our environment
and the ecosystems around us: individually
or collectively, locally and globally
• understand the physical, biological,
human, and cognitive phenomena that
come into play in order to anticipate
changes in our environment.
• Act to protect our environment.
 A THANK-YOU CARD
Towards the end of this semester,
I would like to take the opportunity
to express my gratitude to our great
Dr. Ali Muhammadi on his efforts
that have been made to help us , his
students, successfully end this
semester.
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING