The Future of Ecocriticism: New Horizons

As we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century, environmental concerns dominate the media headlines, from rampant poverty in the developing world to nuclear accidents in industrialized nations. How did human civilization arrive at its current predicaments, and what can we do to temper our habits of mind and mitigate society’s environmentally (and socially) destructive behaviors? The field of ecocriticism (also sometimes called “environmental criticism”) attempts to grapple with such issues. A branch of literary and cultural studies that essentially began in North America in the 1970s, ecocriticism is currently one of the most quickly developing areas of environmental research and teaching. The Future of Ecocriticism: New Horizons brings together thirty-two of the latest articles in the field, including work by some of the leading scholars from around the world. Although ecocriticism has been particularly active in North America, Western Europe, and East Asia, important studies of traditional environmental thought, environmental communication strategies, and environmental aesthetics have begun to emerge in every region of this world. This new book, co-edited by three prominent Turkish scholars and a leading American ecocritic, offers a special cluster of Turkish ecocriticism, with a focus on environmental stories and ideas in this culture that bridges Europe and Asia. Another unique feature of The Future of Ecocriticism: New Horizons is the concluding dialogue among the four editors about the current state of the field.

Serpil Oppermann is Professor of English at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. She is the author of Postmodern Tarih Kuramı: Tarihyazımı, Yeni Tarihselcilik ve Roman (Postmodern Theory of History: Historiography, New Historicism and the Novel; 2006). Her publications on ecocriticism have appeared in JAST, The Trumpeter, ISLE, Critique, and Mosaic. She is a member of ASLE, advisory board member of EASLCE, and one of the founding members of World Eco-Culture Organization.

Ufuk Özdağ is Associate Professor of American Culture and Literature at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. She is the author of Edebiyat ve Toprak Etiği: Amerikan Doğa Yazınında Leopold’cu Düşünce (Literature and the Land Ethic: Leopoldian Thought in American Nature Writing; 2005). Özdağ initiated and offers “literature and environment” courses at Hacettepe. She recently attended Aldo Leopold Foundation’s training program and has become a “land ethic leader.”

Nevin Özkan is Professor of Italian Language and Literature at Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey. She is the author of Modena Devlet Arşivi’ndeki Osmanlı Devleti’ne İlişkin Belgeler (Turkish Documents in Modena Archives; 2004). She is the editor of Sicilian Tales (2002), Poems from Gabriele d’Annunzio (2001) and Fantastic Tales (2006) written in Turkish. She is a member of ASLE. Her forthcoming book is Pietro Della Valle: The Note-book of a Traveler to the Ottoman Empire.

Scott Slovic, who served as the founding president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) from 1992 to 1995, is Professor of Literature and Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno, in the United States. He has edited the journal ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment since 1995, and his most recent book is Going Away to Think: Engagement, Retreat, and Ecocritical Responsibility (2008).

"The Future of Ecocriticism is a collection put together by three Turkish ecocritics with the collaboration of Scott Slovic, who has undoubtedly done more than any other scholar to establish ecocritical networks across the world."

- Richard Kerridge, Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory, Vol. 21, No. 1.

Sinan Akilli

G. Gonca Alpaslan

Pınar Batur

Nurten Birlik

Christina Caupert

Guangchen Chen

Nevio Cristante

Gülşah Dindar

Simon Estok

Jak den Exter

Greta Gaard