Ecocriticism in the Works of Amitav Ghosh

Abstract

The growing ecological crisis in the 21st century has compelled literary scholars to engage with the relationship between literature and the environment. Ecocriticism has emerged as a powerful tool in literary studies to analyze how narratives reflect and respond to ecological challenges. Among contemporary Indian English writers, Amitav Ghosh stands out as a pioneering figure whose fiction profoundly interrogates the intersection of nature, culture, and colonial histories. This research paper explores ecocritical dimensions in Ghosh’s key works, including The Hungry Tide, Gun Island, The Great Derangement, and The Nutmeg’s Curse. The study delves into his depiction of climate change, environmental degradation, the agency of non-human entities, and indigenous ecological knowledge. By examining Ghosh’s engagement with myth, migration, history, and the Anthropocene, this paper elucidates how his narratives challenge the Western epistemologies of nature and foreground the urgency of ecological consciousness in literature. The study concludes that Ghosh’s ecological imagination offers a vital paradigm to understand global environmental crises and reimagine a sustainable human-nature relationship.

Keywords- Ecocriticism, Climate Change, Anthropocene, Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide, Gun Island, Environmentalism, Nature, Postcolonial Ecology, Non-human Agency