The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Ecocriticism book launched

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 29, 2007
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Ecocriticism book launched

Staff Reporter

Chennai: Organisation for Studies on Literature and Environment (OSLE) has brought out a compilation of essays on ecocriticism.

Media Development Foundation chairman Sashi Kumar on Saturday presented the first copy of the book to Dwight Atkinson, Assistant Professor of the English Department in the University of Purdue, U.S.

“The book is a milestone in literary studies in India,” Mr. Atkinson said. The compilation is titled ‘Essays in ecocriticism’ and has 20 chapters. Nirmal Selvamony, president of OSLE – India, has edited the book.

Mr. Sashi Kumar spoke of a paradigm shift in the ecology of media from the analogue mode to the digital mode where many things happened simultaneously. For instance, a TV viewer’s attention is taken up by visual images, scrolls, news flashes and a newsreader’s report at the same time. He said that ecocriticism must go beyond the scope of culture and literature to questioning political motivations of governments, the World Bank and multi-national corporations.

P. Dayanandan, advisor of OSLE – India and V. Rajagopalan, head of the department of English, Madras Christian College (MCC), also spoke on the book. OSLE is a forum that promotes ecocriticism. It owes its origin to scholars of a postgraduate ecocriticism course that MCC’s English Department has been offering for the past 20 years.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail