Beyond Dualism: Human–Nature Connections as Anthropomorphic Interaction in Contemporary Environmental Literature
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| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Citation | |
| Description | The fundamental discourse of the Anthropocene includes critical reflections on the culture–nature relationship and the possibility of overcoming this widespread dualism. The chapter focuses on the challenges to the culture–nature divide in contemporary environmentally-oriented literature, represented by the works of Paolo Bacigalupi, Richard Powers and Terry Pratchett. The analysis emphasises the subversion of dualistic representations of the culture–nature relationship in the selected works while arguing that the subversion is achieved specifically through the anthropomorphism of nature as a disanthropocentric strategy and the representation of the mesh as “the interconnectedness of all living and non-living things” (Morton 2010). As Marco Caracciolo claims in Narrating the Mesh (2021), anthropomorphism may be a successful way of opposing dualism and human exceptionalism. This chapter draws especially on Gabriella Airenti’s (2019) distinction between anthropomorphic belief and anthropomorphic interaction, where the latter is understood as an essential strategy for relating to the nonhuman world. The theoretical insights underlie the subsequent discussion of three literary texts. Whereas Bacigalupi’s science fiction novella “The People of Sand and Slag” (2004) illustrates the harmful consequences of anthropocentrism and lack of anthropomorphic interaction, Powers’s The Overstory (2018) and Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series (2003–2015) conjure up imaginary worlds in which anthropomorphic interaction fosters communication and connection between the human and the nonhuman. By doing so, these works partially overcome the nature-culture dualism and evoke a sense of consoling, uplifting interaction. |
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