[SFRA-L] Open letter: on literature and environment

[Chris Pak]

Hello all,
 
As the new liaison for the SFRA and The Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment-UK and Ireland (ASLE-UKI), I wanted to take this opportunity to forward to all list members a request from the new chair of the association, Adeline Johns-Putra. Below is an open letter on the theme of environmental criticism and ecocriticism. Your imput would be greatly appreciated.
 
Regards,

Chris Pak
chrispak650 at hotmail.com
www.chrispak.webs.com

 



Dear colleague,


 
If you are reading this, it is because you are a member of ASLE UKI (the Association of the Study of Literature and Environment in the UK and Ireland) or you have been sent this by a member. As the newly elected Chair of ASLE UKI, I am writing this open letter to all UK and Ireland-based humanities scholars with an interest in the relationship between literature and the environment, whether ASLE members or not. This letter is a request for information about the relevance that the field of environmental criticism has to your research. I am doing this because, in the time that I have been with ASLE UKI, I have encountered strong opinions about environmental criticism, sometimes positive and sometimes negative. At the same time, I know many humanities scholars whose research is focused on the intersections of text and place, space, landscape, or the environment whether ‘natural’ or built, human or non-human, and who would therefore be very welcome interlocutors with researchers in the field called environmental criticism (and, sometimes, ecocriticism). I am keen to start such a dialogue. Most of all, however, I would like to explore what the future holds for environmental criticism, and it seems to me that the best way to begin is to ask my fellow academics what they think about it.
 
My questions to you, then, are:
·         What relationship does your research have to environmental criticism and/or ecocriticism?
·         Are they, indeed, the same thing, in your opinion?
·         What relationship does your research have to ASLE UKI?
·         What do you think of environmental criticism?
·         What do you think of ASLE UKI?
 
If you are able to respond, then, firstly, thank you for allowing me to have a conversation with academics all over Britain and Ireland. Please respond in as much or as little detail as you would like, and please be as frank and considered as you can be. Please send your responses to me at a.g.johns-putra at exeter.ac.uk with the subject line, ‘Open letter: on literature and environment’. Finally, please make it clear if you are happy for me to share your opinions with others and, if so, whether you are happy to be identified; requests for privacy and/or anonymity will be respected.
 
If you do not have the time to respond, I apologise for clogging up your inbox. Before you delete this, however, please send it on to any academics and postgraduate researchers you think might be interested in responding.
 
Thank you very much for your time.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Adeline Johns-Putra
 
 
 
 
Dr. Adeline Johns-Putra
 
Senior Lecturer in English
University of Exeter

Cornwall Campus
Penryn TR10 9EZ
UK

 
Chair, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, UK and Ireland
  		 	   		  
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