Fiction as an Expression of Social and Environmental Commitment: An Ecosocialist Reading of Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior

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Fiction is not alienated from people’s lives, struggles and aspirations. Throughout literary history, writers have tackled the problems of their environment and society in divergent ways. With the sweeping technological breakthroughs, man’s life and environment/ nature (used interchangeably in this paper) are gravely influenced. Consequently, writers of fiction have a deep commitment towards their society and environment. They highlight how the abuse of the environment and social injustice result in the degradation of both ecological and social systems. As a biologist, social activist and politically committed writer, Barbara Kingsolver attempts in her novels to delve deep into the interdependent connection between environment/ nature and social life. Her novels tackle issues of race, cultural clash, and the conflict between human beings and the ecosystems. This paper is devoted to analyze Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior (2012) from an ecosocialist perspective. As a critical approach, Ecosocialism is based on Karl Marx’s theory of the relationship between man and nature. It is built on the premise of the concomitant relationship between social inequality and environmental deterioration. In order to achieve life sustainability, man finds himself forced to look for alternative social and ecological systems.

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