Ecocriticas: Literatura y medio ambiente

Abstract

Like living forms, ideas evolve together with their environments, and this is also the case with ecocritical studies. In recent years, in fact, ecocriticism seems to have finally reached the trans-national dimension at which it has long been aiming, while developing at the same time interesting local physiognomies. Ecocríticas: Literatura y medio ambiente is testimony of this process. Co-edited by Carmen Flys Junquera, José Manuel Marrero Henríquez, and Julia Barella Vigal, the book marks the arrival of ecocriticism in the Iberic domain, something that is particularly important because Spanish is the third world's most widely spoken language. Resulting from the activities of GIECO (the Spanish Group for Ecocritical Research), Ecocríticas is one of the few “choral” contributions to ecocritical studies coming from outside the Anglophone panorama. Besides offering Spanish translations of ecocritical “landmarks” (Cheryll Glotfelty's “Introduction” to The Ecocriticism Reader and Barbara T. Gates's essay “A Root of Ecofeminism: Ecoféminisme”), the book is a rich collection of original contributions, including an interview with Scott Slovic by Diana Villanueva Romero. Almost all of the essays have been written by Spanish ecocritics, with the exception of prominent names like Terry Gifford and Patrick Murphy (“Preface”)—both members of GIECO. The volume consists of four sections: Theory and Debates, Ecofeminism, National Literatures, and Legends and Children's Literature. A set of appendices featuring a basic bilingual glossary of ecocritical key terms completes the volume, emphasizing the task of “pluralizing ecocriticism,” like the title of the book (in Spanish, a plural word) meaningfully suggests.