the relationship between literature and the environment

1. Literature and the Environment
Presented by
David Robinson

2. Before we start, a public
service message:
• In times of Covid-19 be sure to wash your hands.
• Do this properly – ensure that you wash with soap and
water, for about 20 seconds.

3. Some issues before we begin
In South Africa we have many environmental concerns. In the past few
years we have had:
• A drought in Cape Town
• A drought in KZN and parts of the Eastern Cape
• Floods in various areas
• Poaching of rhino and other animals
• A movement from rural to urban communities
• Problems of air pollution (from industrial sites)
• Problems of contaminated or polluted water

4. More issues before we begin
Internationally there are environmental problems related to:
• Climate change
• Deforestation
• Wildfires in California and Australia
• Loss of or threatened species because of loss of habit or poaching
• Pollution of the air and water
• Damage to the ozone layer
• Viral infection(s)

5. The topic under discussion is ecocritcism
Note that ecocriticism is a topic that addresses how human expression
conceptualizes how we deal with the environment. It is not a concept that
deals with ecological issues in terms of science (although these writings can
influence our ideas).
It is a consideration of how humans express themselves culturally,
specifically in literature, when dealing with issues relating to the
environment.
In other words, how do we understand or seek to explore our relationship
with the environment through our novels, short stories, poetry, plays, art,
dance, comic books and movies – amongst other cultural expressions.

6. Introduction
This is a fairly recent topic in education; it has grown in significance since
the start of the 21st Century.
For many critics the start of this work was Rachel Carson’s book Silent
Spring, written in 1960. It presented a corrupted world that was destroyed
by human intervention, principally the insecticide DDT (which polluted the
water, and killed life forms in and on the water), but also making reference
to the nuclear threat of the Cold War.
The accepted term for this topic (literature and the environment) is
ecocriticism.

7. Commentary by Timothy Clark
Timothy Clark points out that ecocriticism is a relatively new critical
phenomenon, and he states that as a “defined intellectual movement
it is largely dateable to the founding of the Association for the Study
of Literature and the Environment in 1992.”
Ref: Timothy Clark (2011). The Cambridge Introduction to Literature
and the Environment. Page 4. (In the UJ library)

8. Definition
Simply put, ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between
literature and the physical environment… Ecocriticism takes an earth-
centred approach to literary studies.
(Cheryl Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, 1996. Page xviii) (This text is in
the library).

9. Examples of Ecocritical Questions
• How is nature represented in this sonnet?
• What role does the physical setting play in this novel?
• How do our metaphors of the land influence the way we treat it?
• How has the concept of wilderness changed over time?
• Do men write about nature differently from the way women do?
• Is science open to literary analysis, and, if so, how?

10. I will base several of the next few slides on
the work of Greg Garrard
Greg Garrard is currently employed at the
University of British Columbia.
His book Ecocriticism, published by Routledge, is
the best-selling text on this topic.
The first edition of the book will be included as a
reading, loaded on Blackboard electronically.
(There is a later edition, published in 2012,
available in hard copy from the library)

11. Theoretical Positions
Garrard identifies several theoretical positions in his writing. We will address
four:
Cornucopia
Environmentalism
Deep Ecology
Ecofeminism
There are commentaries on all of these positions in Garrard’s book, and in
other texts/readings.

12. Key Theoretical Positions
The following are presented by Greg Garrard:
Cornucopia: This group is not interested in environmental threats,
despite the evidence accumulated about these issues. Instead, they
argue that “the dynamism of capitalist economies will generate
solutions to environmental problems as they arise, and that increases
in population eventually produce the wealth needed to pay for
environmental improvements.” (Garrard, 2012, 19) One significant
criticism of this group is that it takes little or no account of the non-
human environment except insofar as it affects human wealth or
welfare. “Nature is only valued in terms of its usefulness to us.”
(Garrard, 2012, 21)

13. More on Theoretical Positions
Environmentalism: Garrard states that this is a broad range of people
who are concerned about environmental matters such as global
warming, but who would wish to maintain their standard of living.
They are concerned about pollution and scarcity of natural resources,
but they look to their governments or non-governmental agencies to
provide solutions. (Garrard, 2012, 21)

14. Yet More on Theoretical Positions
Deep Ecology: The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman
life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: intrinsic value,
inherent worth). These values are independent of the usefulness of the
nonhuman world for human purposes. (Garrard, 2012, 23)

15. Arne Naess
Naess, a Norwegian philosopher,
coined the term “Deep Ecology”.

16. One More Key Theoretical Position
Ecofeminism: Deep ecology identifies the anthropocentric dualism
humanity/nature as the ultimate source of anti-ecological beliefs and
practices, but ecofeminism also blames the androcentric dualism
man/woman…
Ecofeminism involves the recognition that these two arguments share
a common ‘logic of domination’, or underlying ‘master model’ that
women have been associated with nature, the material, the
emotional, and the particular, while men have been associated with
culture, the nonmaterial, the rational, and the abstract. (Garrard,
2012, 26)

17. Val Plumwood Much feminist theory has detected a masculine
presence in the officially gender-neutral concept
of reason. In contrast, my account suggests that
it is not a masculine identity pure and simple, but
the multiple, complex cultural identity of the
master formed in the context of class, race
species and gender domination, which is at
issue. This cultural identity has framed the
dominant concepts of western thought,
especially those of reason and nature. The
recognition of a more complex dominator identity
is, I would argue, essential if feminism is not to
repeat the mistakes of a reductionist
programme such as Marxism, which treats one
form of domination as central and aims to reduce
all others to subsidiary forms of it which will
‘wither away’ once the ‘fundamental’ form is
overcome. From Feminism and the Mastery of Nature

18. There are other positions
• Greg Garrard mentions eco-Marxism and other theories.
• Some of the theories have developed out of an interest in gender
studies. Other theories have developed out of postcolonialism.
• The theories mentioned above have significance, but I have chosen to
work with the four explored in the previous slides.
• You will find information about all these positions in the readings.
• I include in the readings an article on ecocriticism and postcolonial
studies, in which the work of Zakes Mda is addressed.

19. Key Concepts
• Pollution
• Wilderness
• Apocalypse
• Animals
There are others, but we will focus on the above.
(From: Greg Garrard, 2012)

20. Pollution
• Greg Garrard refers to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring to illustrate this
issue. She presents a world that is Eden-like, but that is destroyed
through neglect and pollutants – in particular poisons like DDT. DDT
was used to kill mosquito larvae which were in dams and ponds. DDT
was an attempt to reduce the spread of malaria. It was responsible
for killing many other life forms in the water.
• Garrard makes the point that Carson’s idea links to both wilderness
and apocalypse.
• The idea of wilderness is explored in the next slide (it refers to a place
that is free of human intervention). Apocalypse is explored in the
slide after “Wilderness” – it refers to the end of the world.

21. Wilderness
• A wilderness is often seen as a place removed from human culture.
This has the value of being pure, but it is menacing because it is
untamed.
• Wilderness is associated with Eden, but after humans are expelled, it
is associated with exile.
• Satan tempted Christ in the wilderness; a negative connotation.
• America, the New World (for Europeans) was an example of a
wilderness; it provided renewed opportunities. However, it was
already a home to Native Americans and the European people who
colonised the land were often fleeing elements of their homeland.

22. Apocalypse
• Many people believe that the end of the world is nigh. They have
been believing this for centuries, so it is a difficult position to
maintain.
• Paul Ehrlich predicted problems of feeding people after the 1970s –
he argued that population growth would lead to mass starvation.
Problems of overpopulation are reflected in John Brunner’s 1968 Sci-
Fi novel Stand on Zanzibar, and his 1972 novel The Sheep Look Up.
• Nuclear weapons and technological advances in warfare, as well as
viruses that seem immune to human intervention, have added
impetus to the idea of apocalypse. Examples include the novel Fail
Safe, the film Dr Strangelove, and the novella I am Legend.

23. Apocalypse…again
• Did you notice the reference to viruses in the previous slide – towards
the bottom? A Covid-19 issue, perhaps.
• Literature has explored the issue of viruses and human life for some
time. The genre most frequently making use of this type of story is
that of Sci-Fi (Science fiction).
• In the previous slide I mentioned I am Legend, a short story about a
man who survives the spread of a virus across the planet. The story is
by Richard Matheson and was made into various films, including The
Omega Man (Omega means last/final – it is the last letter in the
Greek alphabet), and I am Legend starring Will Smith.

24. More on apocalypse and viruses in literature
The idea of a virus attacking humanity and changing our lives is an
interesting thing. It raises many questions, including:
Do human beings really know how to ensure that we survive?
Do we have the knowledge to adapt?
What is the cost to our lives, and ways of life, when faced with a
pandemic?
What is the human future?

25. Animals
Peter Singer emphasises the term speciesism:
Just as women or Africans have been mistreated on the grounds of
morally irrelevant physiological differences, so animals suffer because
they fall on the wrong side of an ‘insuperable line’ dividing beings that
count from those who do not. (Garrard, quoting Singer)
Singer and others explore the way in which humans have dominated
other animal life for centuries, and they question the ethics of this
behaviour.

26. More on Animals
Jeremy Bentham points out that the division (between humans and
animals) is not easy to make. For people who argue that humans are
more significant because they have higher intelligence (a frequent
claim), Bentham points out that a full grown dog or horse is far more
intellectually capable than a day-old human infant. In other words, not
all humans are more intelligent than all animals.

27. Shakespeare and the Environment
Consider A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, and The Tempest.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream the fairies control the weather, and because
there is conflict in the fairy world, between the King and Queen, there is a
breakdown of the natural order – examples are rivers that burst their banks and
flood the land.
In Macbeth there is a breakdown of the natural order after the murder of the
King (King Duncan). An owl is seen in the day (they are normally active during the
night) and the King’s horses eat each other, which is highly aberrant (unusual).
These events show a distortion of nature, and this occurs because the King has
been killed.
In The Tempest one of the characters is able to use magic to control the weather
– an unnatural occurrence, and a manipulation of the environment.

28. Language Change and the Environment
Technology adds new words and meanings to our language usage. For
example, telephone is a word that required the instrument to be
invented. Thereafter, two words from an existing language were used
to label the instrument. (The two words were from Greek: tele means
“far”, and phone means “sound”.)
Terms such as DVD, bluetooth, laptop and so on all developed as a
result of technology. DVD stands for digital video disc, but there is
some evidence that it originally stood for digital versatile disc.
Other words that have been developed as a result of changes in the
human environment – through invention – are scuba (self contained
underwater breathing apparatus), laser, and radar.

29. The social environment of language
The social environment also facilitates language change. An example is
cowabunga! It was originally thought to be from a Native American
language, then appeared in the Howdy Doody Show on TV in the late
1950s. It was adopted by surfers. Later it appeared in TV shows like The
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

30. Literature Linked to Animals
This book is a children’s book
about the life of an otter. It is
notable that the story is not
sentimental; the story explores
how an otter lives and the
challenges it faces.
At the end of the novel the otter
dies when it is hunted by people
with dogs.
No happy ending for the children
reading this story.

31. Ring of Bright Water
This is a pic of Gavin Maxwell with his otter, Mijbil. It is of a sub-
species, Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, which means “Maxwell’s
otter”. The otter originated in Iraq.

32. About Ring of Bright Water
• The book is set mostly in Scotland. It is a non-fiction account, and the book
has several photos of Maxwell with his otters (he had more than one,
although Mijbil was the best known of them).
• Mijbil was killed by accident when Maxwell’s friend was walking along the
road with the otter. (Maxwell had gone to London for business). A
workman in a ditch killed the otter with a pick because he thought it was a
wild animal, or a rat.
• The story was made into a movie starring Virginia MacKenna, who had
been in the movie Born Free, and now runs the Born Free foundation
• Maxwell also wrote a book about his attempted business hunting basking
sharks for their oil – the book is Harpoon at a Venture.

33. Watership Down
Watership Down presents rabbits that
are anthropomorphized, in that they
have language and have a mythology of
their own. Despite this, Adams also
located the rabbits in a reality that he
observed over time.
The novel is a story of rabbits that are
driven out of their warren (their
underground tunnels) by human beings.
The rabbits are gassed, but some escape
and set off to find a new home.
The actions of the humans are shown to
be lacking in concern for other living
things.

34. Watership Down
The novel was very successful. It
reached number one in the New York
bestseller list. It was made into a
cartoon movie, with a song called Bright
Eyes, written by Mike Batt and
performed by Art Garfunkel, which
reached number one in the US charts.
Later there was a TV series.
Notably, human concerns – the need for
a place to live, the desire for happiness,
the desire for purpose – are reflected in
the characters, who are rabbits but with
many human attributes. The novel
suggests that humans and animals have
many shared elements.

35. South African Examples
This is a young adult or children’s novel
that won an award. It is set in South
Africa, in the future, when animals have
been hunted almost to extinction. In
order to ensure the survival of the
animal species, human organs are
transplanted into animals, so some
humans are bred for this purpose.
Bearing in mind the destruction caused
to animal habitats and the vulnerability
of species to poaching, there is a
disjunction between this novel and the
reality in which we live (the reality and
the novel’s story do not reflect
agreement).

36. Another South African example
Coetzee is a Nobel Prize and Booker award-
winning writer, originally from South Africa. He
now lives in Adelaide, Australia.
This short book questions how we should relate
to animals. Coetzee presents an image in which
he compares the killing of animals as a food
supply to the killing of people in the Holocaust
in World War II – the image is one of brutal
unconcern about the deaths and horrific
conditions of other living things.
The short book is highly critical of human
attitudes towards animals as a food supply.
The book was included as a section of another
Coetzee novel, Elizabeth Costello.

37. Another South African example:
Michael K is a gardener by trade.
His race is never stated, which is a
significant issue in pre-1994 South
Africa. A gardener engages with
nature, but also shapes nature to
his/her will.
A gardener provides nature with a
sense of order. In the novel the
society is in a state of revolution,
and this suggests a lack of order.
In a state of chaos, what is the
role, if any, of the gardener?

38. Another South African example
The novel addresses issues of the
urban and the rural, xenophobia,
and the HIV/AIDS issue that has
been part of South African society
for some time.
The novel raises questions about
ideas and practices in our society,
and asks how we are to live.

39. Another South African example
Maru addresses issues of race (black, white,
Masarwa) and the role of women in society. In
addition, the issue of rural tradition is presented
and explored.
The role of women in traditional, tribal, society
is explored.
Bessie Head was a female author of mixed race
who experienced discrimination during the
period of apartheid. She lived for a long time in
Botswana and wrote of her experiences and
observations there.
(This book is a good choice for exploring
ecofeminism).
Another of her books which has value for
addressing ecocritical concerns is When Rain
Clouds Gather, which includes ideas about
farming and how humans subsist.

40. The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling is a
well-known text. Disney has produced
two film versions of it, the first being
animated (1968) and the later 21st
Century version a live-action/CGI
version.
The story is of the human child, Mowgli,
who is raised by wolves.
Notably the book is critical of humans –
when Mowgli has dealings with his own
species, he rejects their treatment of
the jungle and its living things – they do
not understand the jungle but try to
determine how it is to be used.

41. The Jungle Book
The book is a series of connected
stories, with Mowgli as the main figure,
but there are sections between the
chapters that are poems or songs.
Notably there is a Law of the Jungle,
which all animals must know. The bear,
Baloo, teaches all the animals.
The law of the jungle, in this book, is
not just the idea that “anything goes”,
or that things are “chaotic”. Indeed, the
law of the jungle is about working
together as a community. The wolf-pack
has a leader and the pack is governed
by communal needs.

42. William Gibson
In this novel he introduced the
word cyberspace.
William Gibson is a Sci-Fi author.
This novel connects to the world
of computers and the internet,
and is a commentary on the
world of 4IR, although it
predates 4IR.

43. Philip K. Dick
This author wrote several texts about humans and the environment,
particularly the world of the future.
His most famous text is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was
made into the movie Blade Runner. It envisages a future in which there are
robotic beings who are impossible to recognize as different from humans.
These beings are termed replicants and they are not allowed to live on earth
(in the future humans have colonized other places in the solar system). The
question is: If these non-human beings are not able to be recognized as not
human (they are just like humans), how are they to be treated?
A similar question is asked in Isaac Asimov’s story The Bicentennial Man,
about a robot that evolves to become a human being.

44. The previous slide raised questions that are
about speculation
• The issues raised in the previous slide are not yet those that require
immediate answers.
• However, what are we to make of 4IR-related matters, in which the
nature of what it is to be human is explored/renegotiated/changed?

45. Possibly useful information…
Websites of interest:
http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/stibbe-handbook-of-
sustainability/interviews/garrard
https://takku.net/mediagallery/mediaobjects/orig/f/f_val-plumwood-
feminism-and-the-mastery-of-nature-pdf.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18125441.2016.1255246