Ecocritical Elements in Works of Indo English Writers

Nexus of Man, Nature and Literature in select works of Amitav Ghosh, Anita Desai and Kiran Desai

Introduction
Nature and literature have always shared a close relationship as is evidenced in the works of poets and other writers down the ages in almost all cultures of the world. Today the intimate relationship between the natural and social world is being analyzed and emphasized in all departments of knowledge and development.   The literary critic tries to study how this close relationship between nature and society has been textualized by the writers in their works. In this context two terms have become very popular today – ecology and ecocriticism. India is a country with variety of ecosystems which ranges from Himalayas in the north to Plateaus of south and from the dynamic Sunderbans in the east to dry Thar of the West. With time, however, these ecosystems have been adversely affected due to increasing population and avarice of mankind. Similarly literature could not remain unaffected from this depletion.

The two components of nature, organism and their environment are not only complex and dynamic but also interdependent and interrelated. History has proved this every now and then that with every change in the civilization the relationship of animals and human beings have also changed and the effect on civilization of the changes has been so acute that sometimes it has wipes the whole civilization from the face of the earth.

Literature well known for reflecting the contemporary issues could not have remained unaffected from this theme. The world of literature throngs with works dealing with beauty and power of nature. However, the concern for ecology and the threat that the continuous misuse of our environment poses on humanity has only recently caught the attention of the writers. It is this sense of concern and its reflection in literature that has given rise to a new branch of literary theory, namely Ecocriticism.

The word ‘ecocriticism’ first...