The Ecopoetics of War

The Ecopoetics of War explores the interrelationality of human and nonhuman entities in the context of conflict, as recorded in literature and culture. This collection of essays demonstrates the specific and fertile role of literature in representations of war, as it foregrounds the manifold ways in which the borders between human and nonhuman—including flora,fauna, and technology—become porous, thus questioning traditional onto-epistemological and ethical categories.

Bringing together British, American, and postcolonial studies, The Ecopoetics of War covers a variety of historical periods, geographical areas, and literary genres. Interdisciplinary in its outlook, it intertwines war studies, ecocriticism, literary theory, philosophy, and cultural studies. By analyzing the stylistic and discursive strategies devised by writers to translate the sensory experience of the battlefield, the contributors shed light on the unique capacity of literature to foreground the entanglement of human and nonhuman in the context of armed conflict, and thus unveil an “ecopoetics of war.”

This collection will interest scholars of literature, specialists of war studies and ecocriticism, and any reader interested in such issues such as ecowar, ecocide, the Anthropocene, or environmental justice. It can inspire interdisciplinary teaching or research projects, especially in the current context of global environmental crisis.