The emergence of ecological readings : rethinking ourselves through literature
Overview
S. Posthumus’s work on écocritique challenges initial assumptions that it will focus solely on ecological or green practices. Instead, the book centers on the human and its relationship with the environment, avoiding anthropocentrism. Posthumus defines her approach by contrasting it with other concepts, particularly those of French intellectual Luc Ferry, whose influence she critiques as a starting point for understanding French ecocriticism.
Posthumus advocates for a "culturally situated" ecocritical approach, rejecting universal humanism and emphasizing the interdependence of language and culture. Her work dismantles the nature-culture divide, positioning ecocriticism as a dynamic, evolving discipline.
Key Concepts and Structure
The book is structured around four chapters, each pairing a literary theorist with a fiction writer to explore foundational concepts. Posthumus employs a consistent format: introducing the authors, analyzing theory, examining fiction, and synthesizing both to illustrate her arguments.
Ecological Subjectivity
The first chapter addresses the creation of ecological subjectivity, drawing on Arne Naess’s and Félix Guattari’s concept of "écosophie." Guattari’s framework—comprising mental, social, and environmental ecologies—rejects fixed identity in favor of a fluid, evolving subjectivity. Posthumus aligns with this view, emphasizing the materiality and immanence of human experience, which she explores through Marie Darrieussecq’s autofiction. This approach bridges the local and global, the abstract and tangible, by grounding theory in embodied literary narratives.
Ecological Dwelling
The second chapter introduces the concept of "ecological dwelling," rooted in the materiality of human experience. Posthumus critiques simplistic notions of environmental action, instead focusing on how bodies perceive and interact with their surroundings. She engages Michel Serres’s "natural contract," which uses the peasant figure to illustrate symbiosis and co-dependence at local and global scales. Marie-Hélène Lafon’s fiction complements this by portraying rural life’s struggles and resilience, reinforcing the idea of language as an ecological dwelling. Both Serres and Lafon highlight the embodied nature of experience and storytelling.
Ecological Politics
The third chapter explores political systems that include the non-human, critiquing environmentalism while proposing a new ecological paradigm. Posthumus aligns with Bruno Latour’s philosophy, which rejects the nature-culture divide and advocates for integrating non-human entities into democratic systems. Jean-Christophe Rufin’s fiction critiques capitalism and environmentalism, though Posthumus ultimately favors Latour’s vision of systemic change. The chapter underscores literature’s role in imagining alternative political and economic structures, emphasizing the need to move beyond capitalism toward a "common world."
Ecological Ends
The final chapter, "ecological ends," examines the human as homo literatus, focusing on the role of literature in confronting humanity’s potential extinction. Michel Houellebecq’s fiction explores posthuman conditions, while Jean-Marie Schaeffer’s work frames humans as biological entities within the broader living world. Posthumus argues that literature’s power lies in its ability to challenge human exceptionalism and provoke imaginative engagement with ecological transformation.