Avenging Nature

The Role of Nature in Modern and Contemporary Art and Literature

Eduardo Valls Oyarzun, Rebeca Gualberto Valverde, Noelia Malla Garcia, María Colom Jiménez, Rebeca Cordero Sánchez

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2020
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781793621450
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Art General
• Index: Biological Sciences

"Nature, thou art my goddess"—Edmund's bold assertion in King Lear could easily inspire and, at the same time, function as a lamentation of the inadequate respect of nature in culture. In this volume, international experts provide multidisciplinary exploration of the insubordinate representations of nature in modern and contemporary literature and art. The work foregrounds the need to reassess how nature is already, and has been for a while, striking back against human domination. From the perspective of literary studies, art, history, media studies, ethics and philosophy, and ethnology and anthropology, Avenging Nature highlights the need of assessing insurgent discourses that—converging with counter-discourses of race, gender or class—realize the empowerment of nature from its subaltern position. Acknowledging the argument that cultural representations of nature establish a relationship of domination and exploitation of human discourse over nonhuman reality and that, in consequence, our regard for nature as humanist critics is instrumental and anthropocentric, the present volume advocates for the view that the time has come to finally perceive nature's vengeance and to critically probe into nature's ongoing revenge against the exploitation of culture.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• Toward a New Ecocritical Ethics
• Empowering Nature
• The Age of Dystopia
• Index
• About the Editors
• About the Contributors