Abstract
Literary scholars often work with poetic words, fictional characters, and imaginary worlds. In ecocritical thinking, alongside posthumanist and new materialist thoughts, it has been stated that even the most metaphorical literary descriptions of animals, plants and nature have something to do with actual, real environments and non-human beings. However, the nature of the relationship between literature and material world is anything but uncontested and simple. In this panel, with our individual case studies, we will discuss possibilities to reach out to the material world through fictional and poetic expressions.
Many fictional and poetic texts that share an interest with ecocritical research in nature - and humans as a part of it -draw on scientific knowledge. The ways in which natural sciences are utilized, criticized and sometimes twisted in fiction and poetry are various. They vary from descriptions of animals and plants in realistic prose, to the use of specific, scientific species names in poetry and imaginative technological inventions and speculative worlds in science fiction, just to mention a few. This is why studying nature and science in fiction or poetry is much more than barely pinpointing facts or discussing correctness of scientific material. In this panel we ask, how to read science through fiction, and can such readings provide us a way to understand the relationship between literature and environment?
This panel will be chaired by Katri Aholainen, and is part of the symposium on “Transdisciplinary in the Environmental Humanities”.
Papers
- Karoliina Lummaa, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Finnish Literature, University of Turku, "Knowing Finnish Forests - Juxtaposing Poetry, Ecology and Natural Resource Policy"
- Katri Aholainen, PhD student, Department of Finnish Literature, University of Turku, "Possibilities and Limitations of Natural Sciences in Yrjö Kokko's Birdbooks (1950-1966)"
- Kuu Aholainen, PhD student, Department of Finnish Literature, University of Turku, "Thinking-with Science and Fiction - Science fiction in Erkki Ahonen's Novels."
About the Symposium
As the Norwegian Researcher School in Environmental Humanities (NoRS-EH) starts its 5th year, the Oslo School of Environmental Humanities (OSEH) is organizing a symposium on “Transdisciplinary in the Environmental Humanities” on 6 and 7 September 2023 to highlight and celebrate the innovative environmental humanities research happening in Norway and neighboring Scandinavian countries, especially by early career researchers. Read more about the programme for the symposium here.