Ecocriticism in Taiwan: Identity, Environment, and the Arts

This timely volume provides a clue to understanding the outpourings of environmentalism.... With the landmark publication of this volume, the study of Taiwan’s environmental literature and arts has emerged as a legitimate research field. * The International Journal of Asian Studies * Ecocriticism in Taiwan is a remarkable collection of fifteen essays that expertly introduce and rigorously analyze the longstanding commitment of Taiwanese artists, academics, and activists to confronting local and global ecological challenges. Captivating sections on the alternative strategies exhibited by Taiwan’s aboriginal societies, creative activism and environmental movements, and avant-garde art and posthumanist ecoasethetics draw long overdue attention to Taiwan’s cosmopolitan vernacularism and contribute significantly to promoting a transnational environmental consciousness. -- Karen Thornber, Harvard University In the 1990s, Taiwan embraced, nurtured, and globally networked the field of ecocriticism.  In this long-awaited volume, Chang and Slovic bring the island’s most renowned ecocritical leaders together with fast-rising scholars to illustrate Taiwan’s significant and continuing contribution to the field. Among the thought-provoking topics and vexing issues discussed are Han Chinese poetry, Taiwanese aboriginal cultures and arts, women’s nature writing, food, deforestation, and documentary film.  Readers will discover why Taiwan is rightly recognized as one of the intellectual epicenters of ecocriticism. -- Joni Adamson, Professor, Environmental Humanities, Arizona State University, and co-editor, Keywords for Environmental Studies Taiwan has long been a powerhouse of global ecocriticism, but the full depth and breadth of scholarly work on the island has never been available to Anglophone critics - until now. The editors’ term ‘cosmopolitan vernacular ecocriticism’ encapsulates the impressive range of relationships to place, land, nation, and planet articulated in this wonderfully illuminating collection. -- Greg Garrard, University of British Columbia Okanagan