Overview

Stereotypes of Caribbean ""nature"" as lush and its people as exotic Others abound. For those who call the islands home, the region evokes more somber images that reflect the history of colonization and the environmental devastation that ensues. Close ecocritical readings of literary texts illuminate aspects of an encompassing nature inclusive of all Others within the Caribbean ecosphere. This book thus uses ecocritical lenses to examine Caribbean texts and provides a useful context to understand how Other(ed) natures have been scripted by bringing to light environmental concerns not patent in heteropatriarchal interpretations. It establishes patterns of coexistence and interdependence between the spiritual and palpable material worlds that surround the characters who populate Caribbean literature. Culture, Nature, and the Other in Caribbean Literature: An Ecocritical Approach considers texts from colonial times to the present that reflect on the significance of the region's rich cultures against the brutal slavery system and its impact on the environment. Christopher Columbus's first letter helps establish the effects of colonization on indigenous peoples, the ensuing importation of African slaves, and the changes to the landscape. The Haitian revolution, a turning point in Caribbean history, remains central when studying the effects of continued violence on the ecosystem when juxtaposed to the spiritual world of Other(ed) natures. The expression of female agency and sexuality provides the framework for the study of adaptation and hybridization as crucial reflections on the ecological significance of the Caribbean's multiracial reality. The book considers the Caribbean's rich cultural matter as part of the ecosphere that resonates with the surrounding more-than-human world that should be saved from extinction. Novelists transform ecological issues into pressing matters that extend beyond the environment and include the syncretic cultures of the islands and its peoples. No other book offers this kind of close comparative re-readings of Caribbean texts-from Hispaniola to Haiti to Cuba, and from Martinique to Guadeloupe to Puerto Rico, to the Dominican Republic-through ecocritical lenses to recognize the significance of the survival of the literary matter of Other(ed) natures as readers (re)think their own roles within this inclusive ecosphere. Culture, Nature, and the Other in Caribbean Literature is a valuable resource for academic researchers, students, and general readers interested in ecocritical approaches to Caribbean literature as well as environmental and cultural studies. This book is in the Cambria Latin American Literatures and Cultures Series headed by Román de la Campa, the Edwin B. and Lenore R. Williams Professor Emeritus of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania.

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9781621966500

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Reviews

""Well-written and well-conceived, this study provides careful, succinct, and close ecocritical readings of several Caribbean texts. A strength of the study is its embrace of the multilingualism of the Caribbean, as well as its nuanced understanding and clear communication of the cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity of the region. A further strength of this work is its engagement with a range of theoretical contributions by ecocritical scholars. This book is an accomplished and welcome contribution to ecocriticism and Caribbean studies and will interest readers in both fields."" -Professor Laura Barbas Rhoden, Wofford College ""Fully versed in contemporary decolonial, ecofeminist, environmental justice, transhumanist and ecocritical work, Mary Ann Gosser Esquilín brilliantly illuminates Caribbean literary works that, from colonial times through today, have challenged oppressive social construction of the human, the pernicious alliance of rationalism and domination, and the wasting wrought through Western heteropatriarchy, while also affirming the agency of women and other marginalized groups as well as the more than human (including spirits), natural diversity, trans and queer eco-realities, the complexity of the monstrous, and the representation of 'nature' as more than what the master's eye can or will behold. This book is an invaluable work, necessarily enriching and deepening the field of ecocriticism and making a definitive case for the incorporation of Caribbean literature into the heart of environmental theory and ecocriticism."" -Professor Jane Caputi, Florida Atlantic University ""Through an ecocritical lens, Gosser Esquilín offers an incisive study of colonial, romantic, and postmodern Caribbean literature. Theoretically grounded on interrelationships and interconnectedness, the book proposes a relational poetics to overcome binary perceptions of subjects, cultures, and races. The author's comparative approach as well as her penetrating analyses of well-known and lesser-known Spanish and Francophone texts from the Caribbean underscore the interconnectedness of the region. For its singularity and rigor, this book is a valuable resource for academics and specialists of Caribbean literature."" -Professor Elena Martinez, Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY)and CUNY, Graduate Center ""A wonderfully wide-ranging study offering a series of incisive and insightful explorations of Caribbean texts from across the archipelago. Whether rereading canonical works by the likes of Alejo Carpentier and Jacques Roumain or spotlighting little-studied novels such as those of the Indo-Guadeloupean author Jacqueline Manicom, Gosser-Esquilín provides consistently original and thought-provoking analyses of how the relationship between human and more-than-human natures shapes cultural expression. A timely and important contribution to ecocritical studies of Caribbean literature, this book should be read by all those interested in the political ecologies of power and resistance."" -Professor Michael Niblett, University of Warwick ""Deftly organized in three main sections-Reflections, Refractions, and Decompositions-Culture, Nature, and the Other in Caribbean Literature is a tour de force of comparative Caribbean environmental and postcolonial literary studies. In exploring ecological and personal histories of trauma, Mary Ann Gosser Esquilín incisively balances human and more-than-human complexities, interdependence, and dispossession along the junctures of race, gender, and class relations. With lyricism and verve, she leads us through the prism of colonialism, from discourses of domination, ruptures, and extinctions to invigorating readings of hybridization, coexistence, and creative survivals.""-Professor Ivette Romero, Marist College

"""Well-written and well-conceived, this study provides careful, succinct, and close ecocritical readings of several Caribbean texts. A strength of the study is its embrace of the multilingualism of the Caribbean, as well as its nuanced understanding and clear communication of the cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity of the region. A further strength of this work is its engagement with a range of theoretical contributions by ecocritical scholars. This book is an accomplished and welcome contribution to ecocriticism and Caribbean studies and will interest readers in both fields."" -Professor Laura Barbas Rhoden, Wofford College ""Fully versed in contemporary decolonial, ecofeminist, environmental justice, transhumanist and ecocritical work, Mary Ann Gosser Esquil�n brilliantly illuminates Caribbean literary works that, from colonial times through today, have challenged oppressive social construction of the human, the pernicious alliance of rationalism and domination, and the wasting wrought through Western heteropatriarchy, while also affirming the agency of women and other marginalized groups as well as the more than human (including spirits), natural diversity, trans and queer eco-realities, the complexity of the monstrous, and the representation of 'nature' as more than what the master's eye can or will behold. This book is an invaluable work, necessarily enriching and deepening the field of ecocriticism and making a definitive case for the incorporation of Caribbean literature into the heart of environmental theory and ecocriticism."" -Professor Jane Caputi, Florida Atlantic University ""Through an ecocritical lens, Gosser Esquil�n offers an incisive study of colonial, romantic, and postmodern Caribbean literature. Theoretically grounded on interrelationships and interconnectedness, the book proposes a relational poetics to overcome binary perceptions of subjects, cultures, and races. The author's comparative approach as well as her penetrating analyses of well-known and lesser-known Spanish and Francophone texts from the Caribbean underscore the interconnectedness of the region. For its singularity and rigor, this book is a valuable resource for academics and specialists of Caribbean literature."" -Professor Elena Martinez, Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY)and CUNY, Graduate Center ""A wonderfully wide-ranging study offering a series of incisive and insightful explorations of Caribbean texts from across the archipelago. Whether rereading canonical works by the likes of Alejo Carpentier and Jacques Roumain or spotlighting little-studied novels such as those of the Indo-Guadeloupean author Jacqueline Manicom, Gosser-Esquil�n provides consistently original and thought-provoking analyses of how the relationship between human and more-than-human natures shapes cultural expression. A timely and important contribution to ecocritical studies of Caribbean literature, this book should be read by all those interested in the political ecologies of power and resistance."" -Professor Michael Niblett, University of Warwick ""Deftly organized in three main sections-Reflections, Refractions, and Decompositions-Culture, Nature, and the Other in Caribbean Literature is a tour de force of comparative Caribbean environmental and postcolonial literary studies. In exploring ecological and personal histories of trauma, Mary Ann Gosser Esquil�n incisively balances human and more-than-human complexities, interdependence, and dispossession along the junctures of race, gender, and class relations. With lyricism and verve, she leads us through the prism of colonialism, from discourses of domination, ruptures, and extinctions to invigorating readings of hybridization, coexistence, and creative survivals.""-Professor Ivette Romero, Marist College"

"""Well-written and well-conceived, this study provides careful, succinct, and close ecocritical readings of several Caribbean texts. A strength of the study is its embrace of the multilingualism of the Caribbean, as well as its nuanced understanding and clear communication of the cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity of the region. A further strength of this work is its engagement with a range of theoretical contributions by ecocritical scholars. This book is an accomplished and welcome contribution to ecocriticism and Caribbean studies and will interest readers in both fields."" -Professor Laura Barbas Rhoden, Wofford College ""Fully versed in contemporary decolonial, ecofeminist, environmental justice, transhumanist and ecocritical work, Mary Ann Gosser Esquilín brilliantly illuminates Caribbean literary works that, from colonial times through today, have challenged oppressive social construction of the human, the pernicious alliance of rationalism and domination, and the wasting wrought through Western heteropatriarchy, while also affirming the agency of women and other marginalized groups as well as the more than human (including spirits), natural diversity, trans and queer eco-realities, the complexity of the monstrous, and the representation of 'nature' as more than what the master's eye can or will behold. This book is an invaluable work, necessarily enriching and deepening the field of ecocriticism and making a definitive case for the incorporation of Caribbean literature into the heart of environmental theory and ecocriticism."" -Professor Jane Caputi, Florida Atlantic University ""Through an ecocritical lens, Gosser Esquilín offers an incisive study of colonial, romantic, and postmodern Caribbean literature. Theoretically grounded on interrelationships and interconnectedness, the book proposes a relational poetics to overcome binary perceptions of subjects, cultures, and races. The author's comparative approach as well as her penetrating analyses of well-known and lesser-known Spanish and Francophone texts from the Caribbean underscore the interconnectedness of the region. For its singularity and rigor, this book is a valuable resource for academics and specialists of Caribbean literature."" -Professor Elena Martinez, Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY)and CUNY, Graduate Center ""A wonderfully wide-ranging study offering a series of incisive and insightful explorations of Caribbean texts from across the archipelago. Whether rereading canonical works by the likes of Alejo Carpentier and Jacques Roumain or spotlighting little-studied novels such as those of the Indo-Guadeloupean author Jacqueline Manicom, Gosser-Esquilín provides consistently original and thought-provoking analyses of how the relationship between human and more-than-human natures shapes cultural expression. A timely and important contribution to ecocritical studies of Caribbean literature, this book should be read by all those interested in the political ecologies of power and resistance."" -Professor Michael Niblett, University of Warwick ""Deftly organized in three main sections-Reflections, Refractions, and Decompositions-Culture, Nature, and the Other in Caribbean Literature is a tour de force of comparative Caribbean environmental and postcolonial literary studies. In exploring ecological and personal histories of trauma, Mary Ann Gosser Esquilín incisively balances human and more-than-human complexities, interdependence, and dispossession along the junctures of race, gender, and class relations. With lyricism and verve, she leads us through the prism of colonialism, from discourses of domination, ruptures, and extinctions to invigorating readings of hybridization, coexistence, and creative survivals.""-Professor Ivette Romero, Marist College"

Author Information

Mary Ann Gosser Esquilín is Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Florida Atlantic University. She holds a PhD from Yale University, an MA from the Université de Provence I, France, and an AB from Bryn Mawr College. She has published in several journals, including Journal of Caribbean Literatures, Journal of Language and Sexuality, Centro, and Sargasso, and a chapter in the MLA's Teaching the Literature of Climate Change.

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