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Ecocritics and Ecoskeptics: A Humanist Reading of Recent French Ecofiction

Online ISBN:
9781800341319
Print ISBN:
9781789622058
Publisher:
Liverpool University Press
Book

Ecocritics and Ecoskeptics: A Humanist Reading of Recent French Ecofiction

Jonathan F. Krell
Jonathan F. Krell
University of Georgia
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Published online:
20 May 2021
Published in print:
31 October 2020
Online ISBN:
9781800341319
Print ISBN:
9781789622058
Publisher:
Liverpool University Press

Abstract

Michel Serres and Luc Ferry represent the two opposing views of ecology in contemporary French philosophy. Serres calls for a “natural contract” that would ensure a symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. Ferry rejects Serres’s ecocentric world view, embracing instead modernist humanism that places humans squarely in the center of the world. Part 1 of Ecocritics and Ecoskeptics presents three contemporary novels that depict the world as both a beautiful and fragile place, in danger of being destroyed—as Serres fears—by human technological progress. Part 2 studies two novels that address the animal question. What is the difference between humans and animals? Are humans animals, or have they been torn away from their animality? Can humans justify their inhumane treatment of animals? Part 3 analyzes two novelists, both avowed humanists who—one through humor and the other through humanitarianism—explore potential undesirable effects of environmentalism. The conclusion states that “environmentalism is a humanism.” Traditional humanism must yield to an ecological humanism that gives dignity and respect to both humans and the earth, acknowledging the unbreakable bond between human and humus.

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