Chapter 17 - Ecomagical Realism in Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Linda Hogan’s People of the Whale

Summary

Further investigating the capacities of literary narrative to reveal intertwined environmental and social justice struggles, this chapter presents an overview of the current literature and critical debates at the intersection of magical realism and ecocriticism. Exploring the specific contexts of Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria and Linda Hogan’s People of the Whale, the chapter draws on perspectives from the overarching field of the environmental humanities, including postcolonial ecocriticism, indigenous scholarship and feminism, while it pursues these linked questions: how can and how does magical realism function as an ecocritical tool? In the course of the discussion, the essay aims to show how both Carpentaria and People of the Whale take up various 'nonhuman turns' – articulating the silence and violence imposed by anthropocentrism and its corollaries – while suggesting how techniques such as ecomagical realism may inspire us to bridge the manufactured divides underlying systemic exploitation and bolster the groundwork to demand real change.