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Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
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Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
Avenging Nature
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Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
Ecocritical Theory and Practice
SeriesEditor:DouglasA.Vakoch,METI
AdvisoryBoard
Sinan Akilli, Cappadocia University, Turkey; Bruce Allen, Seisen University, Japan;
ZéliaBora,FederalUniversityofParaíba,Brazil;IzabelBrandão,Federal Universityof
Alagoas, Brazil; Byron Caminero-Santangelo, University of Kansas, USA; Chia-ju
Chang,BrooklynCollege,TheCityCollegeofNewYork,USA;H.LouiseDavis,Miami
University,USA;SimãoFariasAlmeida,FederalUniversityofRoraima,Brazil;George
Handley, Brigham Young University, USA; Steven Hartman, Mälardalen University,
Sweden;IsabelHoving,LeidenUniversity,TheNetherlands;IdomThomasInyabri,Uni-
versity of Calabar, Nigeria; Serenella Iovino, University of Turin, Italy; Daniela Kato,
Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan; Petr Kopecký, University of Ostrava, Czech Re-
public;JuliaKuznetski,TallinnUniversity,Estonia;BeiLiu,ShandongNormalUniver-
sity, People’s Republic of China; Serpil Oppermann, Cappadocia University, Turkey;
JohnRyan,UniversityofNewEngland,Australia;ChristianSchmitt-Kilb,Universityof
Rostock, Germany; Joshua Schuster, Western University, Canada; Heike Schwarz, Uni-
versityofAugsburg,Germany;MuraliSivaramakrishnan,PondicherryUniversity,India;
ScottSlovic,UniversityofIdaho,USA;HeatherSullivan,TrinityUniversity,USA;David
Taylor, Stony Brook University, USA; J. Etienne Terblanche, North-West University,
SouthAfrica;ChengXiangzhan,ShandongUniversity,China;HubertZapf,Universityof
Augsburg,Germany
Ecocritical Theory and Practice highlights innovative scholarship at the interface of
literary/cultural studies and the environment, seeking to foster an ongoing dialogue be-
tweenacademicsandenvironmentalactivists.
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ir llA editedbyEduardoVallsOyarzun,RebecaGualbertoValverde,NoeliaMallaGarcía,
.sko MaríaColomJiménez,RebecaCorderoSánchez
o MigrantEcologies:ZhengXiaoqiong'sWomenMigrantWorkers,byZhouXiaojing
B
no ClimateConsciousnessandEnvironmentalActivisminComposition:WritingtoSavethe
tgn World,editedbyJosephR.Lease
ixeL RethinkingNathanielHawthorneandNature:EcocriticismandtheTangledLandscapeof
.02 AmericanRomance,byStevenPetersheim
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th Tiffin
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oC MasculinityandPlaceinAmericanLiteraturesince1950,byVidyaRavi
TheWaytheEarthWrites:HowtheGreatEastJapanEarthquakeIntervenedinConven-
tionalLiteraryPracticeandProducedthePost3.11Novels,byKoichiHaga
Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
Avenging Nature
The Role of Nature in Modern and
Contemporary Art and Literature
Edited by
Eduardo Valls Oyarzun,
Rebeca Gualberto Valverde,
Noelia Malla García,
María Colom Jiménez,
and Rebeca Cordero Sánchez
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LEXINGTONBOOKS
Lanham•Boulder•NewYork• London
Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
PublishedbyLexingtonBooks
AnimprintofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc.
4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706
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Copyright©2020byTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany
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withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote
passagesinareview.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:VallsOyarzun,Eduardo,editor.
Title:Avengingnature:theroleofnatureinmodernandcontemporaryart
andliterature/editedbyEduardoVallsOyarzun,[andfourothers].
Description:Lanham:LexingtonBooks,2020.|Series:Ecocriticaltheory
andpractice|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.|Summary:
"AvengingNatureexploreshownaturestrikesbackagainsthuman
domination.Internationalexpertsexamine,fromamultipdisciplinary
perspective,theinsubordinaterepresentationsofnatureinmodernand
contemporaryartandliterature,andadvocatefortheinsurgenceof
.d
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r sth 9781793621443(cloth)|ISBN9781793621450(epub)
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.sko literature.|Natureinmotionpictures.|Dystopianfilms--Historyand
o
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n
otg Classification:LCCPN98.E36A942020(print)|LCCPN98.E36(ebook)|
nixe DDC809/.9336--dc23
L .0 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020012264
20 LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020012265
2
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AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrinted
LibraryMaterials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.
Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
Contents
Introduction 1
EduardoVallsOyarzun
PartI:TowardaNewEcocriticalEthics
1 BringingCultureBacktoNature:ABiosemioticReadingof
AnnieDillard’sPilgrimatTinkerCreek 9
AnastasiaCardone
2 “HaveYouSeentheSnowLeopard?”:AnimalCommodity
ResistanceinPeterMatthiessen’sTheSnowLeopard 25
FrankIzaguirre
3 “WithOneArmISupportedHer:TheOtherArmWasthe
Executioner’s”:AnEcofeministReadingofAnnaKavan’sIce 37
.d LauradelaParra
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vrese 4 “WeWereNeitherWhatWeHadBeennorWhatWeWould
r sth Become”:FrankensteinianScienceandLiminalStatesinJeff
g
ir llA VanderMeer’sAnnihilation 49
.sko JessicaRoberts
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n
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n
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HandeGurses
v
Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
vi Contents
7 AFewSockeyesandDyingEmbersinWhatIsLeftofthe
Forest:SettlerCultureandChangingViewsofNatureinGail
Anderson-Dargatz’sLatestNovels 93
PedroMiguelCarmona
8 TheLastEpigram:ChristianBök’sXenotext 109
RyanWinet
9 APoeticCorrespondenceonEcologyandthe
More–than–HumanWorld:AllanCooperandHarryThurston’s
TheDeerYard 119
LeonorM.MartínezSerrano
10 WondersandThreatsofSymbioticRelationshipsinthe
Anthropocene:JeffVanderMeer’sTheSouthernReachTrilogy 133
PatrycjaAustin
PartIII:TheAgeofDystopia
11 DemonizingNature:EcocriticismandPopularFantasy 149
PeterMelville
12 AcceptingtheX:UncannyEncounterswithNatureandthe
WildernessinJeffVandermeer’sTheSouthernReachTrilogy 165
CarmenM.MéndezGarcía
13 EcocriticalArchaeologiesofGlobalEcocideinTwentieth-First-
CenturyPost-ApocalypticFilms 179
MónicaMartí
14 Biohazard,Eco-Terror,andtheRiseofPosthumanDystopia:
Re(b)orderingSpacetoPromoteEnvironmentalEthicsinZal
Batmanglij’sTheEastandCormacMcCarthy’sTheRoad 195
PaulaBarbaGuerrero
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se Capitalism 211
r sth VíctorJunco
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ir llA 16 De-Evolution,Dystopia,andApocalypseinAmerican
.sko PostmodernSpeculativeFiction 227
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© AbouttheEditors 243
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Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
Introduction
Eduardo Valls Oyarzun
“Nature,thou art my goddess.” Edmund’sbold assertion in KingLearcould
easily inspire and, at the same time, challenge most of the contents the
presentvolume,AvengingNature,comprises.1Whetherasan“other”orasa
constituentpartofwhateverauthorsconceivehumannatureis,theclose-knit
relationshipbetweenthehumansubjectandNaturepervadeswesternculture
and civilization. Nature has been divined as a nurturing mother and a harsh
Goddess, as the subject and object of creation, as an authority to be wor-
shippedortoberebelledagainst,asabalancedandharmonicphenomenonor
as a truly chaotic force of destruction, as friend and foe, as creation or
destruction. There is Nature in “human nature,” but there is very little hu-
manity, if at all, in the way culture has coded Nature as an “other,” and
outsiderwithalmostnoentityorvoicetotakeheedof.Evenametaphorlike
theoneyouhavejustread somewhat denies Nature theauthorityit callsfor.
.d
evre In order to overcome this situation, the present volume attempts to check
se upon the means and ways Nature can truly (re)gain stage-center in present-
r sthg daycriticaldiscourse.
ir llA Atthedawnof“ecocriticism”asadisciplineofstudywithintheHuman-
.sko ities, Glotfelty, and Fromm (1996), in the first general reader in the matter,
o
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n defined it as the critical practice that examines the relationship between
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tgn literary and cultural studies and the natural world. In general terms, during
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L the past two decades, ecocriticism has denounced the anthropocentric and
.0
20 instrumental appropriation of nature that has for so long legitimized human
2
©
th exploitation of the nonhuman world. Exposing the logic of domination that
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iryp articulatestheverypowerrelationshipsthatbothconnectandseparatehuman
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C culture and natural life, recent trends in ecocriticism have raised awareness
of the “otherisation” of Nature (Huggan and Tiffin 2015), pointing out the
need of assessing insurgent discourses that—converging with counter-dis-
1
Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
2 Introduction
coursesofrace,genderorclass—realizetheempowermentofNaturefromits
subalternposition.
But such empowerment of Nature first requires that the sundering of
human and nonhuman realms is overcome, since, as Kate Rigby explains,
onlybyregaining“asenseoftheinextricabilityofnatureandculture, physis
and techne, earth and artifact—consumption and destruction—would be to
movebeyond(. . .) the arrogance of humanism.” (2002, 152) Yet, recogniz-
ing such inextricable relationship between human and Nature while over-
coming the arrogance of anthropocentrism entails the ecocritical admission
that all cultural discourses are in fact exploitative of Nature. Rigby states it
clearly while explaining, “culture constructs the prism through which we
know nature.” (2012, 154) We comprehend Nature when we apprehend the
worldthroughlanguageandrepresentation,butNatureprecedesandexceeds
words; it is therefore “real” (1992, 32) and separated by an abyss from the
symbolic networks of culture that write, master, assign a meaning to and
attempt to set Nature in order. From this perspective, culture is not exactly
the end of Nature as much as it is an appropriation and colonization of
Nature. Culture masters, dominates, and instrumentalizes the natural world.
However,inatimewhenthe“endofnature”thatBillMcKibbenprophesized
in 1989 has been certified, when we know for a fact that it is indeed a
differentEarthwearelivingin—becausebychangingtheclimatethereisnot
acorneroftheplanetthathasnotbeenaffectedbyouractions—theevidence
of global ecological endangerment compels the ecocritical debate to install
environmental ethics and concerns at the crux of humanistic research. The
criticalenterpriseisfarfromeasy,though.The argument that culturalrepre-
sentations of Nature establish a relationship of domination and exploitation
of human discourse over nonhuman reality is extendible to the critical task.
As humanist critics, our regard for nature in literary and artistic representa-
tion is instrumental and anthropocentric. But the time has come to avenge
.d
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ser sthg theNexaptuloreit—atiaondiofffecruenlttu,rheu.manlymodifiedNature—willremainafterthecli-
ir llA matechangedoomsday.Natureprecedesourunderstandinganditsconceptu-
.sko alization. However, despite the unimaginable damage done, it will also sur-
o
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o
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nixe ture after culture, as there is now a rebellious Nature that resists in spite of
L .0 culture.Thus,thisvolume collectsasetof articlesthat explore,in thehands
2
02 of well-reputed international experts, these very insubordinate representa-
©
th tions of Nature in modern and contemporary literature and art. In our study,
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while, striking back against human domination, and for such endeavor we
have collected the works of different scholars from the fields of literary
studies, postcolonial studies, art, history, gender and women’s studies, film
Avenging Nature : The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature, edited by Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, et
