MACMILLAN Ecocriticism and Geocriticism: Overlapping Territories in Environmental and Spatial Literary Studies (Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies)

Although treated as two distinct schools of thought, ecocriticism and geocriticism have both placed emphasis on the lived environment, whether through social or natural spaces. For the first time, this interdisciplinary collection of essays addresses the complementary and contested aspects of these approaches to literature, culture, and society. Review “This book’s most notable achievement is its interdisciplinary synthesis of the disciplines of literature and geography more broadly. The wide-ranging scope of the literature considered is certainly a strength of work, ranging from North Atlantic environmental multimedia and practice-based poetry to gothic writing and world literature. Through careful handling, the collection moves critically between post colonialism and ecology, psychoanalysis, ecofeminism and post naturalism, acknowledging the literary significance of spatiality and the environment.” (Chloe Ashbridge, Literary Geographies, Vol. 4 (2), 2018) "This is a timely volume that engages with a significant and growing area of literary and cultural studies. For some time there have been two largely distinct schools - place studies and spatial theory - that explore related but rarely linked ideas. This collection is designed to help bring these two approaches together. And it does so admirably. It is a significant contribution and will help to reconcile the differing strands of place and spatial theory. I learned a lot from it and I am sure other readers will as well." - Tom Lynch, Professor of English, University of Nebraska, USA Review "This is a timely volume that engages with a significant and growing area of literary and cultural studies. For some time there have been two largely distinct schools - place studies and spatial theory - that explore related but rarely linked ideas. This collection is designed to help bring these two approaches together. And it does so admirably. It is a significant contribution and will help to reconcile the differing strands of place and spatial theory. I learned a lot from it and I am sure other readers will as well." - Tom Lynch, Professor of English, University of Nebraska, USA From the Back Cover The contributors to Ecocriticism and Geocriticism survey the overlapping territories of these critical practices, demonstrating through their diversity of interests, as well as their range of topics, texts, periods, genres, methods, and perspectives, just how rich and varied ecocritical and geocritical approaches can be. As diffuse 'schools' of criticism, ecocriticism and geocriticism represent two relatively recent discourses through which literary and cultural studies have placed renewed emphasis on the lived environment, social and natural spaces, spatiotemporality, ecology, history, and geography. These loosely defined practices have also fostered politically engaged inquiries into the ways that humans not only represent, but also organize the spaces and places in which they, their fellow humans, and many other forms of life must dwell. These essays exemplify the ways in which critics may bring environmental and spatial literary studies to bear on each other, enabling readers to looks at both literature and their surroundings differently. About the Author Robert T. Tally Jr. is Associate Professor of English at Texas State University, USA. He is the author of Fredric Jameson: The Project of Dialectical Criticism; Poe and the Subversion of American Literature; Spatiality (The New Critical Idiom); Utopia in the Age of Globalization; and, as editor, Geocritical Explorations, Literary Cartographies, and The Geocritical Legacies of Edward W. Said.   Christine M. Battista is the Chair of Media and Communication Studies and Assistant Professor of English at Johnson and Wales University, USA, where she teaches critical media studies, literary theory, American literature, and postcolonial literature.