Affective ecologies : empathy, emotion, and environmental narrative / Alexa Weik von Mossner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weik von Mossner, Alexa, author.

Series:

Cognitive approaches to culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ecocriticism.

Affect (Psychology) in literature.

Environmentalism--Psychological aspects.

Environmentalism.

Empathy in literature.

Cognitive psychology.

Physical Description:

xi, 269 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Columbus : The Ohio State University Press, [2017]

Summary:

Affective Ecologies: Empathy, Emotion, and Environmental Narrative explores our emotional engagement with environmental narrative. Focusing on the American cultural context, Alexa Weik von Mossner develops an ecocritical approach that draws on the insights of affective science and cognitive narratology. This approach helps to clarify how we interact with environmental narratives in ways that are both biologically universal and culturally specific. In doing so, it pays particular attention to the thesis that our minds are both embodied (in a physical body) and embedded (in a physical environment), not only when we interact with the real world but also in our engagement with imaginary worlds. How do we experience the virtual environments we encounter in literature and film on the sensory and emotional level? How do environmental narratives invite us to care for human and nonhuman others who are put at risk? And how do we feel about the speculative futures presented to us in ecotopian and ecodystopian texts? Weik von Mossner explores these central questions that are important to anyone with an interest in the emotional appeal and persuasive power of environmental narratives. Book jacket.

Contents:

Captivating evocations: literary topophilia and narrative perspective

Touching sights and sounds: embodiment, emotion, and cinematic environments

Imagining the pain: strategic empathy and the environmental justice narrative

Beyond boundaries: imaginary animals and the intricacies of trans-species empathy

Troubling futures: climate risk and the emotional power of dystopia

Alluring visions: hope, desire, and the affective appeals of ecotopia

Epilogue: Environmental narrative across media

Notes.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-256) and index.

ISBN:

9780814213360

0814213367

9780814254011

0814254012

OCLC:

960088445