JOURNAL ARTICLE

Unruly Microcosms in Contemporary Eco-Fiction.

  • Published In: Substance: A Review of Theory & Literary Criticism, 2023, v. 52, n. 3. P. 45 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Campos, Liliane 3 of 3

Abstract

This article theorizes the disruptive epistemic work performed by microcosms in recent eco-fiction. Contemporary fiction often explores large-scale ecological disruption through smaller organisms and environments, enabling readers to perceive the Earth through analogy, allegory and metaphor. Within and against this scale-free reading, I argue that the microcosm has become a fracturing trope that troubles relations between scales. Drawing on fiction by T. C. Boyle, A. S. Byatt, Amitav Ghosh, Ali Smith, and Karen Tei Yamashita, I read the microcosm as a critical tool of Anthropocene awareness, because it foregrounds and questions scalar collapse – the epistemic projection of one scale onto another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Substance: A Review of Theory & Literary Criticism. 2023/09, Vol. 52, Issue 3, p45
  • Document Type:Literary Criticism
  • Subject Area:Women's Studies and Feminism
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:0049-2426
  • DOI:10.1353/sub.2023.a913890
  • Accession Number:174000230
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Substance: A Review of Theory & Literary Criticism is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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