Run of year's work: articles on ecocriticism

Ecocriticism, or environmental literary criticism, is at a crucial formative stage of development. Since the end of the last decade it has moved from a marginal position in literary studies, institutionally and conceptually, to widespread acceptance in the academy. One indication of this shift is the growth in ecocriticism journals: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment (ISLE) was founded in 1993 but acquired for commercial publication by Oxford Journals in 2009; Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism was first published in 2000 and acquired by Taylor and Francis in 2012; and two more journals began in 2009 and 2010. Another is the recent enthusiasm of academic publishers such as Harvard and Oxford University Presses for ecocritical projects. The rapid growth in publication output and the proliferation of subfields (queer ecology, postcolonial ecocriticism, environmental justice) makes an informed critical overview of the field invaluable for both established scholars and students or academics exploring the field for the first time. In 2008 Dr Garrard was commissioned by The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory to write their first annual review on ecocriticism.

The research methodology was simple: read everything of significance published in ecocriticism each year; establish its relationship with existing scholarship; and provide a commentary on its achievements and weaknesses. The author considered that a lively, combative style would engage the reader and provoke scholars in environmental criticism to frame arguments and choose examples with greater care. In each successive review, the author sought to identify and evaluate characteristic modes of argumentation, such as intersectional analysis and the Argument from Absence, and to trace the development of subfields such as postcolonial ecocriticism. At 48690 words in total, the three reviews are a comprehensive and constructive account of ecocriticism today.