Ecological Transformations of Critical Theory

Abstract

One of the most conspicuous changes in the relationship between ecological thought and critical theory has resulted from the recognition that an ecological perspective on culture and literature is neither entirely new in the history of critical theory, nor that it is inherently opposed to positions of modern and postmodern aesthetics and theory. On the contrary, it has become evident that ecocriticism can only fully realize its rich potential through its dialogue with modern and postmodern theory and aesthetics, in the same way in which the latter needs to be redefined in new, more complex ways by the inclusion of an ecological dimension into their discourses. Important versions of critical and aesthetic theory have already anticipated an ecological perspective and are being reappraised on a broad scale from this new angle. This is one of the more surprising turns of recent literary and cultural studies after a phase in which ecocriticism and critical theory had mutually ignored each other as if they existed on different planets of thought. In their radical constructivist epistemology, critical theory and cultural studies had relegated ‘nature’, in their high phase of academic currency, from the domain of serious scholarly occupation altogether, declaring it a mere ideological fabrication which only served to hide interests of political power and dominance. Ecocriticism on the other hand (over-)reacted to this extreme form of cultural constructivism with wholesale rejection rather than with a differentiated assessment of relevant insights of critical theory.