Table Of ContentBLUE ECOCRITICISM AND
THE OCEANIC IMPERATIVE
This book initiates a conversation about blue ecocriticism: critical, ethical, cultural,
and political positions that emerge from oceanic or aquatic frames of mind rather
than traditional land- based approaches.
Ecocriticism has rapidly become not only a disciplinary legitimate critical form
but also one of the most dynamic, active criticisms to emerge in recent times.
However, even in its institutional success, ecocriticism has exemplified an “ocean
deficit.” That is, ecocriticism has thus far primarily been a land-b ased criticism
stranded on a liquid planet. Blue Ecocriticism and the Oceanic Imperative contributes
to efforts to overcome ecocriticism’s “ocean deficit.” The chapters explore a vast
archive of oceanic literature, visual art, television and film, games, theory, and
criticism. By examining the relationships between these representations of ocean
and cultural imaginaries, Blue Ecocriticism works to unmoor ecocriticism from its
land- based anchors.
This book aims to simultaneously advance blue ecocriticism as an intellectual
pursuit within the environmental humanities and to advocate for ocean conservation
as derivative of that pursuit.
Sidney I. Dobrin is a Professor and Chair of the Department of English at the
University of Florida.
“Blue Ecocriticism and the Oceanic Imperative calls for ecocriticism to take to the sea,
offering an indispensable guide to navigating between the many disciplinary and
methodological currents arising in the blue humanities. The scope of the book,
alone, is impressive—Dobrin assembles a vast archive of oceanic literature, visual art,
television and film, games, theory and criticism, making this an invaluable resource
and potent provocation for the environmental humanities, animal studies, and the
emerging blue humanities.”
— Dr. Stacy Alaimo, Professor of English, Environmental Studies
Core Faculty Member, University of Oregon, USA
“As Ishmael might’ve said, it is the easiest thing in the world for a book to look as if it
had a great secret in it. ‘Blue Ecocriticism’ actually does: its expansive, sophisticated
and entertaining account of Ocean as a dominant, threatened material-s emiotic
actor on Earth offers a digestible remedy for ecocritics’ ‘ocean deficit disorder.’ Be it
eco- cosmopolitanism, oceanography or Object Oriented Ontology, Dobrin knows
the ropes.”
— Greg Garrard, Professor of Environmental Humanities,
Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, Canada
“With the publication of Blue Ecocriticism and the Oceanic Imperative Sid Dobrin
takes the stage of humanistic scholarship on the marine environment with a highly
engaging introduction to the changing conditions and conceptions of the human
relationship to the world’s oceans. Dobrin’s impassioned and insightful work ups
the ante for current ecocritical scholarship by calling for (and demonstrating) an
oceanic commitment that is both intellectual and personal as well as local, global,
and ongoing. By going all in with his oceanic scholarship, Dobrin demonstrates
why the rest of us should, too.”
— Daniel Brayton, Julian W. Abernethy Chair of Literature,
Director, Environmental Studies Program, Middlebury College, USA
Routledge Environmental Humanities
Series editors:
Scott Slovic (University of Idaho, USA), Joni Adamson (Arizona State University,
USA) and Yuki Masami (Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan)
Editorial Board
Jennifer Newell, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia
Simon Pooley, Imperial College London, UK
Sandra Swart, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Ann Waltner, University of Minnesota, USA
Jessica Weir, University of Western Sydney, Australia
International Advisory Board
Sverker Sorlin, KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory, Royal Institute of
Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Helmuth Trischler, Deutsches Museum, Munich and Co- Director,
Rachel Carson Centre, Ludwig- Maximilians- Universität, Germany
Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale University, USA
Kirsten Wehner, University of London, UK
The Routledge Environmental Humanities series is an original and inspiring venture
recognising that today’s world agricultural and water crises, ocean pollution and
resource depletion, global warming from greenhouse gases, urban sprawl, over-
population, food insecurity and environmental justice are all crises of culture.
The reality of understanding and finding adaptive solutions to our present
and future environmental challenges has shifted the epicenter of environmental
studies away from an exclusively scientific and technological framework to one that
depends on the human- focused disciplines and ideas of the humanities and allied
social sciences.
We thus welcome book proposals from all humanities and social sciences dis-
ciplines for an inclusive and interdisciplinary series. We favour manuscripts aimed
at an international readership and written in a lively and accessible style. The read-
ership comprises scholars and students from the humanities and social sciences
and thoughtful readers concerned about the human dimensions of environmental
change.
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge- Environmental- Humanities/ book- series/ REH
BLUE ECOCRITICISM
AND THE OCEANIC
IMPERATIVE
Sidney I. Dobrin
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Sidney I. Dobrin
The right of Sidney I. Dobrin to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Dobrin, Sidney I., 1967– author.
Title: Blue ecocriticism and the oceanic imperative / Sidney I. Dobrin.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon : New York : Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Routledge environmental humanities |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2020046300 (print) | LCCN 2020046301 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138315228 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138315273 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780429456466 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Ecocriticism. | Ocean and civilization.
Classification: LCC PN98.E36 D63 2021 (print) |
LCC PN98.E36 (ebook) |DDC 809/.9336–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046300
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046301
ISBN: 978-1 -1 38-3 1522- 8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1 -1 38-3 1527- 3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0 -4 29-4 5646- 6 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Newgen Publishing UK
When we ask my mother where she was born, she always responds that she was
hatched in the ocean and that she crawled out through the surf on to the beach
in New Smyrna. When my brothers and I were young, she stood with us on the
beach facing the ocean and introduced us, “This is the ocean. Respect her, and she
will treat you well. Disrespect her and you will face rage like you cannot imagine.”
This one is for my mom, who gave us the ocean.
CONTENTS
List of figures x
Preface xi
1 Unearthing ecocriticism 1
2 Scaling the ocean 88
3 Object ocean 137
4 Seeing ocean 175
5 Protein economies 201
6 Blue frontiers 227
Index 230
