Chilean Ecocriticism and Environmental Studies: Bibliographies, Concepts, and Contexts

Abstract

From a Southern Hemisphere perspective, the sensation arising from reading the works outlined in the bibliography elaborated by Yilmaz’s research on ecocriticism and environmental studies is one of an overwhelming imbalance (2-14). Though the outcome would be similar if references were made to the bibliographies of the main readers and classic texts published in English, it is evident that many of the primary bibliographical reference points in environmental studies from Latin America are excluded. This does not refer to the lack of writings by Latin American authors, but rather those of European thinkers so crucial to Latin American studies. This reflects a bibliographical asymmetry, which is both conceptual and contextual, and within which lays a fundamental impossibility: the worldwide standardization of ecocriticism and environmental studies. Furthermore, in addition to the three aforementioned aspects, it does not even include the North–South variable as a radical difference. European authors undoubtedly feature in the bibliographies of the field, but they generally deal with postmodern literary theory (Oppermann 106).