Ecocriticism and Women Writers - Virginia Woolf’s Experiment in Genre and Politics 1926-1931 - Visioning and Versioning The Waves

Sep 18, 2026

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Scholarly study examining ecocritical approaches to women writers, with sustained attention to how literary form performs ecological work. Builds on discourse and ecocriticism theory to argue that narrative can destabilize binary patterns of Western rationalism and support connectivity, equality, and diversity. Develops environmental poetics through readings of Virginia Woolf and other writers, treating their texts as models of healthier ecological relationships. Includes a structured survey of chapters on major works and their ecopoetic or ecofeminist implications.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages196

Reading Time5 h 2 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Ecocriticism and Women Writers Also by Justyna Kostkowska VIRGINIA WOOLF’S EXPERIMENT IN GENRE AND POLITICS 1926–1931: Visioning and Versioning The Waves Ecocriticism and Women Writers Environmentalist Poetics of Virginia Woolf, Jeanette Winterson, and Ali Smith Justyna Kostkowska © Justyna Kostkowska 2013 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-0-230-30843-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-33902-0 ISBN 978-1-137-34909-5 (eBook) DOI 10. 1057/9781137349095 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. Contents Acknowledgments vi Introduction 1 1 The Narrative Ecology of “Kew Gardens”: Virginia Woolf’s Ecofeminist Imagination and the Narrative Discovery of Jacob’s Room 12 2 “All Taken Together”: Ecological Form in Mrs. Dalloway 29 3 Singing the World in The Waves: The Ecopoetics of Woolf’s Play-Poem 41 4 Living with the Other: Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body 56 5 Multiplicity and Coexistence in The Powerbook 71 6 The Fiction of Abundance and Awareness: Jeanette Winterson’s Lighthousekeeping 91 7 Hotel World: A Symbiotic Narrative Space 105 8 Getting Close: The Ecopoetics of Intimacy in Ali Smith’s Like 124 9 Stories That Change the World: Ali Smith’s Ecological “Realityfiction” 144 Conclusion: Re-visioning the World from the Inside Out 164 Notes 167 Bibliography 180 Index 187 Acknowledgments Thanks are due to the Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts, the English Department, and the Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant Committee for providing the essential time off teaching and the summer resources. Special thanks to MTSU English Department Chair, Tom Strawman, for his support. Thank you Ann L. Ardis , Bonnie Kime Scott, and Ellen R. Donovan for reading proposal and chapter drafts and writing grant recommendation letters. Thanks tomy parents for their support and encouragement. Chapter 2 was originally published in Critical Insights: Mrs. Dalloway, ed. Dorothy Dodge Robbins (Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, a division of EBSCO Publishing, 2012) . Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Introduction M. Jimmie Killingsworth writes in “Discourse Communities”: “In addition to changing language and changing minds, the enterprise of rhetoric su

FAQs

What core idea drives the book’s ecocritical perspective?

The study argues that language and narrative form can transform discourse sites and help move toward a more ecologically sound society by promoting connectivity, equality, and diversity rather than separation and hierarchy.

How does the introduction position ecocriticism in relation to nature writing?

It builds on scholarship suggesting ecocriticism is most useful when it recovers a work’s environmental orientation, and it extends beyond the so-called nature writing to examine transformative literary narratives with ecological value.

Which authors and works are highlighted in the book’s chapter plan?

The contents outline close readings focused on Virginia Woolf’s major texts, Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body and Lighthousekeeping, and Ali Smith’s Like and other works, each tied to ecopoetic or ecological narrative analysis.

Sep 18, 2026

Upload by Hazel