Econarratology

Abstract This chapter offers an overview of the field of econarratology, which studies the interplay of narrative form and ecological issues. The premise of econarratology is that formal strategies and conventions in narrative can evoke or imply specific understandings of human-nonhuman relations. While narrative, as seminal work in narratology has shown, is biased towards human (and human-scale) experience, there are multiple ways in which storytelling can challenge anthropocentric assumptions. The chapter surveys recent work that has brought into focus the ecological significance of formal devices in relation to three key dimensions of narrative: characters (including character narrators), temporality, and spatiality. It also situates econarratology vis-à-vis ecocriticism and discusses the importance of foregrounding narrative as a discourse mode that emerges in various practices, from artistic representation to the news media and political debates.