Publisert

Translating landscapes – Maria Parr’s Tonje Glimmerdal from an Ecocritical Perspective

The article examines two sets of illustrations of the children’s novel
Tonje Glimmerdal (2009) by Norwegian author Maria Parr. The original
version in Norwegian, illustrated by Åshild Irgens, and the translation into
Spanish, illustrated by Zuzanna Celej, are examined. The aim is to show
how the concepts of nature and landscape are modified in the translated version. This analysis illuminates how illustrations have an impact on texts,
and how illustrations create new meanings. While the original novel is considered a winter pastoral as young protagonist Tonje lives in the mountains
and finds her purpose in life in her homeland valley, Irgens’ illustrations
foreground Tonje’s actions, whereas Celej’s work is more focused on the
landscape. The different ways in which these two versions of the book depict
the winter pastoral, and the image of nature, are analysed from an ecocritical perspective, especially following Carol Glotfelty’s and Greg Garrard’s
approaches.

Publisert

Sustainable/ecocritical literature teaching

Marianne Røskeland has published a chapter on ecocritical literature teaching. Complete reference:

Røskeland, M. (2018). Natur i litteraturen. Økokritisk litteraturundervising med døme frå diktsamlinga Eg er eg er eg er. In K. Kverndokken (Ed.), 101 litteraturdidaktiske grep (pp. 39-56). Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nina Goga has published a chapter on sustainable literature teaching. Complete reference:

Goga, N, (2018). Bærekraftig litteraturundervisning. In R. S. Stokke & E .S. Tønnessen (Eds.), Møter med barnelitteratur (pp. 351-369). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

 

Publisert

Ecocritical Perspectives on Children’s Texts and Cultures. Nordic Dialogues

This volume presents key contributions to the study of ecocriticism in Nordic children’s and YA literary and cultural texts, in dialogue with international classics. It investigates the extent to which texts for children and young adults reflect current environmental concerns. The chapters are grouped into five thematic areas: Ethics and Aesthetics, Landscape, Vegetal, Animal, and Human, and together they explore Nordic representations and a Nordic conception, or feeling, of nature. The textual analyses are complemented with the lived experiences of outdoor learning practices in preschools and schools captured through children’s own statements. The volume highlights the growing influence of posthumanist theory and the continuing traces of anthropocentric concerns within contemporary children’s literature and culture, and a non-dualistic understanding of nature-culture interaction is reflected in the conceptual tool of the volume: The Nature in Culture Matrix.

More information at the publisher’s web page

Publisert

Article on the nature of play in Pinocchio

Based on ecocrtical theory, theories about ‘The Strange Child’, and theories about play and criteria of play as found in Peter Smith’s Children and Play (2009), this article by Nina Goga (page 103-121) aims to examine the nature of play in various illustrations of Pinocchio’s sojourn in The Land of Toys. The article also discusses the representations of play in light of the ambiguous message in the book about the necessity of freedom and, at the same time, the necessity of formation. Since physically active play seems to be the most common kind of game in The Land of Toys, the text, but not always the illustrations, seems to perceive physically active play as a hindrance to the formation process where a physical, controlled, and subordinated body is a basic condition.

Publisert

Green topology

Read Aslaug Nyrnes’ article Grøn topologi i Kultur & Klasse.

Green topology

A rereading of Virgil’s wheel

Nature is a complex phenomenon; it is both a physical object and a variety of cultural imaginations and representations. The current climate crises challenge the relationship between nature and language in radically new ways. This article examines an example of what we can call the green topology, figures that are part of, and shape the climate course. Virgil’s wheel is a topos from the Middle Age, traced back to the pastoral tradition of Virgil, presenting specific connections between literary style and topography. The question in this article is what perspective on nature is implicit in this thought figure. Do Virgil’s wheel as a topos challenge the dominant view on nature from the Romantic period? Can we understand

Vergil’s wheel in opposition to an anthropocentric world-view? If so, does Vergil’s wheel have ecocritic potential? The article draws on perspectives from ecocritical theory, rhetorical topological theory and Schiller’s philosophy on nature and the sentimental.