Witnessing Plants: Narrative Explorations of Plants as Experiencers and Mediators of Environmental Change and Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction

Begin - Einde 
2026 - 2030 (lopend)
Type 
Vakgroep(en) 
Vakgroep Letterkunde
Onderzoeksgebied 
Tijdsperiode 
Taal 
Onderzoeksmethode 
Trefwoorden 
plant humanities
literary plant studies
Memory studies
Narratology
Affect

Tabgroup

Abstract

This project examines how contemporary anglophone novels portray plants as dynamic, entangled beings living in and affected by environmental change, crisis, and biodiversity loss. I study how fiction, by means of formal and thematic strategies, can, on the one hand, concretise, visualise and bring under our attention how plants experience anthropogenic environmental change; plants bear witness to climate change, and physically retain, i.e. remember, these experiences. On the other hand, I explore how plants in fiction can function as mediators of environmental change: characters can witness climate change - and respond in affectively diverse ways - by paying attention to plants. Methodologically, my approach is informed by insights from econarratology, (slow) memory studies, and work on climate change related affects.

Onderzoekers

Promotor(en)

Doctoraatsstudent(en)