Ecological Literature and the Critique of Anthropocentrism

Description

This book is an analysis of literary texts that question, critique, or subvert anthropocentrism, the notion that the universe and everything in it exists for humans. Bryan Moore examines ancient Greek and Roman texts; medieval to twentieth-century European texts; eighteenth-century French philosophy; early to contemporary American texts and poetry; and science fiction to demonstrate a historical basis for the questioning of anthropocentrism and contemplation of responsible environmental stewardship in the twenty-first century and beyond. Ecological Literature and the Critique of Anthropocentrism is essential reading for ecocritics and ecofeminists. It will also be useful for researchers interested in the relationship between science and literature, environmental philosophy, and literature in general. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiv Introduction: Anthropocentrism, the Anthropocene, and the Apocalypse (Bryan L. Moore)....Pages 1-45 The Earth as Pinprick: Some Early Western Challenges to Anthropocentrism (Bryan L. Moore)....Pages 47-62 Lowering the Human Throne: European Literature to 1900 (Bryan L. Moore)....Pages 63-117 Teleology, Ecology, and Unity and the French Enlightenment (Bryan L. Moore)....Pages 119-131 Courses of Empire: Ecological Apocalypse in Early American Literature (Bryan L. Moore)....Pages 133-167 Jeffers’s Inheritors: “Transhuman Magnificence” in Late-Twentieth Century American Poetry (Bryan L. Moore)....Pages 169-185 Antianthropocentrism and Science Fiction Part I: From Antiquity to World War II (Bryan L. Moore)....Pages 187-211 Antianthropocentrism and Science Fiction Part II: After World War II and into the Twenty-First Century (Bryan L. Moore)....Pages 213-239 Back Matter ....Pages 241-273