Writing naturecultures
1. How does contemporary writing engage with the environment and respond to escalating and insidious ecological crises?
2. How does contemporary literature shape and are shaped by environmental thoughts and action?
3. How might new literary work move beyond anthropocentric (human-centred) perspectives?
Sample Solution
The word contemporary means living, belonging to or occurring in the present. So when we talk about contemporary literature, we are talking about literature that is being written in the now about the now. But what does the now encompass? Contemporary literature is defined as literature written after World War II through the current day. While this is a vague definition, there is not a clear-cut explanation of this concept — only interpretation by scholars and academics. While there is some disagreement, most agree that contemporary literature is writing completed after 1940. Works of contemporary literature reflect a society’s social and/or political viewpoints, shown through realistic characters, connections to current events and socioeconomic messages.
