Developing ecological consciousness: ecocritical perspectives on Oryx and Crake

Abstract

La literatura siempre ha sido vista como un área de estudio que no podía manifestarse en la investigación contra problemas científicos y ecológicos. Sin embargo, el establecimiento de la ecocrítica como una escuela de crítica literaria ha ayudado a la desaparición de este antiguo prejuicio. El objetivo de este Trabajo de Fin de Grado es analizar los orígenes, la historia y las aproximaciones interdisciplinares de la ecocrítica, y cómo esta escuela ha contribuido al desarrollo de conciencia ecológica en los lectores. Aparte del análisis anterior, este proyecto abordará la figura de Margaret Atwood, su novela Oryx and Crake, y como ambos han incentivado el papel de la literatura en problemas ecológicos.

Literature has always been seen as a field of study which could not develop on the research against scientific and ecological problems. However, the establishment of ecocriticism as a literary school of criticism has cooperated in the elimination of this old prejudice. The aim of this Final Degree Project is to analyse the origins, the history and interdisciplinary approaches of ecocriticism, and how this literary school has helped in the developing of ecological consciousness within readers. In addition to this previous analysis, the project will address on the figure of Margaret Atwood, her novel Oryx and Crake, and how both of them have encouraged the role of literature within ecological problems.