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Can Books Save the Earth?: A digital anthology of green literature

Article Summary by Spencer P.

          Simon C. Estok, a Canadian ecocritic, wrote this academic journal with the intent of stressing the importance of ecocriticism activism. “While the dimensions of the environmental crisis are clearly global, ecocriticism grows out of local systems with varying cultural valences” opens us Estok’s argument, which in other words is saying that ecocriticism in America is not the same as it is in South Korea, or even Canada for that matter, but rather America represents a materialistic hegemony that has a large amount of wealth floating around, which in turn draws more attention to it. This academic journal reminded me of Descartes Discourse on Method, and the author pinpoints a few critical aspects of ecocriticism that need to be addressed, and a plausible solution.
          Estok wrote this academic journal to point out big problems associated with ecocriticism, and at the end of his work has to back up a few steps to avoid sounding anti-American. He presents America as a postcolonial hegemony when it comes to ecocriticism, and it is not necessarily because of it’s beauty, but rather because of it’s marketing methods. He quotes the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau on what it’s like to be living next to one of the most powerful, globally branded country.
          “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”
Estok, being a Canadian himself, sides with this quote and goes on to defend his country by saying that America markets its geographies of pride well, but it ‘pimps’ Canadian land by purchasing various land permits for Hollywood with American dollars. He then gives specific examples as to when he’s witnessed American films being filmed in his hometown, Vancouver, like when Jet Li was in “Romeo Must Die”, but the setting of the movie was really in “New York”.
          South Korea, Canada, and the United States all materialize in different ways, and it is evident that the United States puts a lot more money in, and receives a lot more attention as a result. Canada and South Korea are living in the shadows of this great big beast that we call America. As a devout Canadian ecocritic, Estok believes that activism is essential in ecocriticism because it seeks change. The 4 core elements for a work to be considered activist ecocriticism are (1) increases awareness of environmental issues (2) seeks to expose issues, not maintain them (3) embraces the need to change the industrial capitalist society and (4) to practice what it preaches; to look closely at anthropocentrism, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear.
          Etsok claimed that it was “ironic” to be talking about American name-value internationally “after the financial crisis that began in 2008” that generated a US national debt that would “put every American citizen $40,000 in the red if spread evenly among the population”. He finds its hard to believe that this country can fall so hard, yet remain so relevant and overshadow the ecocriticism of his home country, and others as well. Etsok also believes that South Korean ecocritics are undervalued and under-represented, which is why activism is an important aspect of ecocriticism – ecocriticism seeks change, and to make things change, you need to be an activist and let your voice be heard.


Estok, Simon. "Discourses of Nation, National Ecopoetics, and Ecocriticism in the Face of the US: Canada and Korea as Case Studies." (n.d.): n. pag. Rpt. in Comparative American Studies. 2nd ed. Vol. 7. N.p.: n.p., 97. 85-97. Web.

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