Towards Symbiocene: Simulation and Extrapolation of Environmental Inevitability in Ecofiction
Anthropogenic intervention into the environment has led us towards what is now widely understood as a new epoch: the Anthropocene. While nature is a concrete and palpable entity, the othering of it is a linguistic construct. Literary narratives are significant part of our everyday discourse and thei...
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Institute of English Studies
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625746 |
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| author | Pooja Agarwal |
| author_facet | Pooja Agarwal |
| author_sort | Pooja Agarwal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Anthropogenic intervention into the environment has led us towards what is now widely understood as a new epoch: the Anthropocene. While nature is a concrete and palpable entity, the othering of it is a linguistic construct. Literary narratives are significant part of our everyday discourse and their efficacy in positing an alternative worldview cannot be undermined. The current paper seeks to investigate select texts of ecofiction: Megan Hunter’s The End We Start from (2017), Jim Laughter’s Polar City Red (2012), Louis Lowry’s The Giver (1993), and Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia (1975), towards analyzing how ecofiction can foster global eco-consciousness (Wallis 2013) by either instilling a sense of eco-guilt (Agoston et al. 2022) or offering ecological hope (Northcott 2020). Towards that end, the paper shall trace out the genesis of ecofiction, and consider how through the twin techniques of estrangement and extrapolation, it creates alternate worlds, thereby simulating future scenarios. These scenarios can offer apocalyptic visions of dismal and tragic consequences of the human intervention into the environment, or could posit a rejuvenating alteration in human efforts, resulting in increased environmental imagination, leading us from Anthropocene towards the Symbiocene (Albrecht 2015). |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1d4dc69580cd4cc593a537ef794dd0c2 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0860-5734 2957-0905 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | Institute of English Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-1d4dc69580cd4cc593a537ef794dd0c22025-08-20T02:34:40ZengInstitute of English StudiesAnglica. An International Journal of English Studies0860-57342957-09052024-10-013339711610.7311/0860-5734.33.3.07Towards Symbiocene: Simulation and Extrapolation of Environmental Inevitability in EcofictionPooja Agarwal0https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8553-4711Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, KanpurAnthropogenic intervention into the environment has led us towards what is now widely understood as a new epoch: the Anthropocene. While nature is a concrete and palpable entity, the othering of it is a linguistic construct. Literary narratives are significant part of our everyday discourse and their efficacy in positing an alternative worldview cannot be undermined. The current paper seeks to investigate select texts of ecofiction: Megan Hunter’s The End We Start from (2017), Jim Laughter’s Polar City Red (2012), Louis Lowry’s The Giver (1993), and Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia (1975), towards analyzing how ecofiction can foster global eco-consciousness (Wallis 2013) by either instilling a sense of eco-guilt (Agoston et al. 2022) or offering ecological hope (Northcott 2020). Towards that end, the paper shall trace out the genesis of ecofiction, and consider how through the twin techniques of estrangement and extrapolation, it creates alternate worlds, thereby simulating future scenarios. These scenarios can offer apocalyptic visions of dismal and tragic consequences of the human intervention into the environment, or could posit a rejuvenating alteration in human efforts, resulting in increased environmental imagination, leading us from Anthropocene towards the Symbiocene (Albrecht 2015).https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625746anthropocentrismecofictionsymbioceneeco-consciousnesseco-guiltecological hope |
| spellingShingle | Pooja Agarwal Towards Symbiocene: Simulation and Extrapolation of Environmental Inevitability in Ecofiction Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies anthropocentrism ecofiction symbiocene eco-consciousness eco-guilt ecological hope |
| title | Towards Symbiocene: Simulation and Extrapolation of Environmental Inevitability in Ecofiction |
| title_full | Towards Symbiocene: Simulation and Extrapolation of Environmental Inevitability in Ecofiction |
| title_fullStr | Towards Symbiocene: Simulation and Extrapolation of Environmental Inevitability in Ecofiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards Symbiocene: Simulation and Extrapolation of Environmental Inevitability in Ecofiction |
| title_short | Towards Symbiocene: Simulation and Extrapolation of Environmental Inevitability in Ecofiction |
| title_sort | towards symbiocene simulation and extrapolation of environmental inevitability in ecofiction |
| topic | anthropocentrism ecofiction symbiocene eco-consciousness eco-guilt ecological hope |
| url | https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=625746 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT poojaagarwal towardssymbiocenesimulationandextrapolationofenvironmentalinevitabilityinecofiction |