Ecocriticism in the Novels of Amitav Ghosh: An Extended Analysis

Abstract

Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment, and how writers can use their creative imagination to raise awareness and inspire action on environmental issues. Amitav Ghosh is a prominent Indian writer who has explored various aspects of ecology, climate change, biodiversity, and postcolonialism in his novels and non-fiction works. This paper will analyze how Ghosh’s eco-narrative is an imaginative form of fiction that portrays what Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffin describe as “greening postcolonialism” in Postcolonial Eco-Criticism, whereby he offers a new perspective of concerns and debates that affect the world at large and the way these issues can be highlighted through eco-narrative versus eco-tourism, eco-critical activism, environmental advocacy and aesthetics1. The paper will also examine how Ghosh’s fictional and non-fictional enterprise voices a call for more imaginative and cultural forms of fiction that articulate resistance against materialism that can destroy our planet2. The paper will analyze how the Ibis Trilogy and The Hungry Tide are eco-critical narratives that articulate resistance against the violence of climate change.