Literature for a changing planet / Martin Puchner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Puchner, Martin, 1969- author.

Series:

The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities/Princeton University Press Lectures in European Culture ; v. 1.

The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities/Princeton University Press Lectures in European Culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ecocriticism.

Literature--History and criticism.

Literature.

Genre:

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (145 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Princeton ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Reading literature in a time of climate emergency can sometimes feel a bit like fiddling while Rome burns. Yet, at this turning point for the planet, scientists, policymakers, and activists have woken up to the power of stories to fight global warming. In Literature for a Changing Planet, Martin Puchner ranges across four thousand years of world literature to draw vital lessons about how we put ourselves on the path of climate change-and how we might change paths before it's too late. From the Epic of Gilgamesh and the West African Epic of Sunjata to the Communist Manifesto, Puchner reveals world literature in a new light-as an archive of environmental exploitation and a product of a way of life responsible for climate change. Literature depends on millennia of intensive agriculture, urbanization, and resource extraction, from the clay of ancient tablets to the silicon of e-readers. Yet literature also offers powerful ways to change attitudes toward the environment. Puchner uncovers the ecological thinking behind the idea of world literature since the early nineteenth century, proposes a new way of reading in a warming world, shows how literature can help us recognize our shared humanity, and discusses the possible futures of storytelling. If we are to avoid environmental disaster, we must learn to tell the story of humans as a species responsible for global warming. Filled with important insights about the fundamental relationship between storytelling and the environment, Literature for a Changing Planet is a clarion call for readers and writers who care about the fate of life on the planet"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

PREAMBLE. Literature for a Changing Planet

CHAPTER ONE. Reading in a Warming World

CHAPTER TWO. A Revolution in Accounting

CHAPTER THREE. The Two Faces of World Literature

CHAPTER FOUR. How to Anthologize the World

CHAPTER FIVE. Stories for the Future

Acknowledgments

Illustration Credits

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 117-134) and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Puchner, Martin, 1969- Literature for a changing planet

ISBN:

9780691230429

0691230420

OCLC:

1260167364