Narrative Discourse in the Anthropocene

Towards an Eco-critical Praxis for Times of Ecological Precarity

Abstract

This paper positions the Anthropocene not merely as a geological period, but as a discursive, cultural, and ethical paradigm for reimagining literary studies during the era of environmental crisis. It draws upon transcultural ecocriticism, posthumanism, and critical theory to argue for a rigorously interdisciplinary and justice-oriented framework for reading literature that manifests the imbrication of climate crisis, narrative form, and political agency. The article showcases how recent Anglophone fiction, at the hands of authors like Atwood, Butler, and Indigenous authors, challenges extractive capitalism, unsettles dominant Anthropocenic paradigms, and foregrounds ethical and affective dimensions of environmental desecration. In its synthesis of narrative theory, posthuman critique, and environmental justice, the article offers a conceptual and methodological retooling of literary criticism in the environmental humanities.