Comparative ecocriticism: an introduction

Abstract

The introduction explains the rationale of the book, highlighting its contribution to ecocritical theory, comparative ecocriticism, and ecopoetics. The theoretical novelty of the book derives from its comparative and cross-disciplinary approach in the first two chapters which investigate the theoretically fertile links between deconstruction, social ecology, and new materialism. Ergin makes a compelling case for a new poetics structured around the concept of “entanglement,” and outlines entanglements in these three strands of thought so as to demonstrate the relevance of this concept in theoretical terms. She then examines the ecological intersections of nature and society through a comparative analysis of the works of the American poet Juliana Spahr and the Turkish writer Latife Tekin. As the first book-length study of comparative Turkish and American ecocriticism, the book responds to the immense need for theorizing about ecology and poetics across new geographical, cultural, and linguistic contexts.