5) Plumwood, Val. University of Nevada, Reno, hired her as the nation’s first Professor of Literature and Environment in 1990. In the book, he proposed a version of an argument that was later to dominate ecocriticism and environmental philosophy. conducted in a spirit of commitment to environmentalist praxis” (20). An awesome debut by any standards, this is a story that would resonate with the reader no matter where he is from. 7) Stephen Matterson. But there was a transition in the mid1980s, and the scholars began to work collectively to establish ecocritism as a genre taking the help of Western Literature Association. The writer is trying to highlight this “general extravagance” throughout the novel by portraying the ill effect of the accumulation of land by the Jews in the region. Gifted with intelligence, she also holds a law degree. It was done with the main motive to revaluate the writings based on nature to function as a non-fictional literary genre. ‘The New Criticism’, Literary Theory and Criticism Ed by Patricia Waugh: An Oxford Guide. The name itself sends a tickling sensation down the spine. Michelle’s brilliance as a writer is hard to miss. Since then, new branches of ASLE and affiliated organizations were started many countries of Europe and Asia like- UK, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand (ASLEC-ANZ), India (OSLE-India}, Taiwan, Canada and Europe. Writer and editor, American Arabs in Toledo Samir Abu-Absi (B.A. There were lands filled with olive trees but they all have become barren because the Jews have planted landmines into them. 3rd ed. Michelle Cohen Corasanti is a Jewish American, Michelle has BA from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a MA from Harvard University, both in Middle Eastern Studies. Lawrence Buell defines “‘ecocriticism’ … as:a study of the relationship between literature and the environment 5) Plumwood, Val. 2) Buell, Lawrence. The Electronic Intifada, Selma Dabbagh author of Out of It. As per the term Eco-Criticism, it only came into the major play after the attempts of Cheryll Glotfelty, right since the 1989 WLA (Western Literature Association) conference. They had barely enough water to drink and the new people were swimming in it. 6) Weil, Simone. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. قضايا المجتمع العربي واخر المستجدات في ‘هذا اليوم‘ على هلا, ‘شجرة اللوز ‘: رواية تحكي قصة ‘العرب في اسرائيل‘, Fighting for Equality or Collaborators? But one day more than dozen soldiers came and took away everything from them. HOPE and BELIEF….This is what best defines The Almond Tree, a debut novel by Michelle Cohen Corasanti, a Jewish American. After completing the whole book I can very easily say this is the best possible name for this piece of art. She is against those people who pursue wealth by devastating natural resources or accumulating those which has been owned by the marginalised groups. Hence it means that ecocritics try to investigate such thing which has the underlying ecological values and concern. critics rarely cited one another’s work; they didn’t know that it It is believed to be an intentionally comprehensive approach which is also famous by other names like: green (cultural) studies, ecopoetics and environmental literary criticism. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996. 1) Barry, Peter. As Cheryll Glotfelty noted in The Ecocriticism Reader: “One indication of the disunity of the early efforts is that these London: Routledge, 2002. She is a strong critique of natural exploitation and is more concern for moral consequences than material gains. And they complained that the new people diverted the water from their village by digging deeper wells. So the organization, UNR has retained the position it established at that time as the intellectual home of ecocriticism. Translated by Mary McCarthy, Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill, 1956. It is so because of the rise of environmentalism in the late 1960s and 1970s, which has been like an explosion and lots of literary writers contributed their writings focusing on the issues related to environment. She has highlighted the use of mining to demonstrate the ill-effects of resource exploitation by the human beings. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Oxford University Press; New Delhi, 2006. A Language Older Than Words. It was used by him as a measure of literary value which has tended to prevail over Raymond Williams’s ideological and historical critique of the shifts in a literary genre’s representation of nature. Ecocriticism is an umbrella term under which a variety of approaches fall; this can make it a difficult term to define.As ecocritic Lawrence Buell says, ecocriticism is an “increasingly heterogeneous movement” (1). So for this they were very much concern and they consider other discipline such as history, philosophy, ethics, and psychology, to be possible contributors to ecocriticism. She has reflected her views in the novel which is a fine example of her condemnation against ecological balance. And in this way she has tried to fulfil her moral responsibility towards environment. (2)The title of the novel, The Almond Tree itself reflects the novelist love for environment. The Almond Tree is a creative genius by Michelle which is an outcome of what she herself had seen, heard and experienced, as she speaks: The Almond Tree is based on what I witnessed with my own eyes, what I heard, and what I learned. in English from The American University of Beirut, M.A. Athens and London: University of Georgia, 1996. His story is a source of inspiration for all those people who are let down by the problems and hardships of life. In the later, “second wave” ecocriticism, he has adopted an ecophilosophical position with apparent scientific sanction. His life and that of his family is completely damaged by the powerful Jews. Exploring the relationship between literature and the physical environment, literary ecology is the study of the ways that writing both reflects and influences our interactions with the natural world. Athens and London: University of Georgia, 1996. 8) Corasanti, Michelle Cohen. Cheryll Glotfelty is the co-founder and past president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE). They try to examine human perception of wilderness in a more accurate way; their chief concern is that how it has changed throughout history. Michelle is firm in her condemnation of exploitation of people as well as natural resources by the Jews in Palestine. But as such there was no organized movement to study the ecological/environmental side of literature, so these works relating to the awareness of environment were scattered and categorized under a litany of different subject headings such as pastoralism, human ecology, regionalism, American Studies etc. Susan Abulhawa mocks, distorts and destroys Palestinian legacy in the Triangle.. Throughout the novel, the novelist has tried to reflect a strong critique of the reductive use-oriented worldview experienced by the Jews. Required fields are marked *. For making profit they can go to any extent. He intended to stress on “the application of ecology and ecological concepts to the study of literature.” Since then there has been lot of works published by the people relating to ecotheory and criticism and it is still progressing. Cheryll Glotfelty is an avid reader, nature lover and concerned planetary citizen. But it became a coherent movement in the USA in the 1990s and after that in other parts of the world and especially in India also. But, “simply put, ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment” (Glotfelty xviii).