Comparative Literature: East & West (Jul 2022)

Politicizing Anthropocene Poetry: Reading Provincialization of Anthropocene and Planetary Shift in Climate through a Comparative Analysis of Anthropocene Blues by John Lane and Anthropocene by Sudeep Sen

  • Barnashree Khasnobis

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/25723618.2022.2148444
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 2
pp. 194 – 206

Abstract

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ABSTRACTDipesh Chakraborty and Kathleen D Morrison engage in provincializing the Anthropocene to decenter the grasp of the idea that Anthropocene is an outcome of European industrial phase that enhanced socio-economic growth worldwide, thereby revealing the other causes for the culmination of the era of Anthropocene, offering a space to other cultural histories and Anthropogenic pursuits by non-European societies responsible for climate change. Local episodes of altered weather patterns and adversities when compared, they assist in conceiving the shift in the climate of Earth because of inclusivity of experiences across boundaries, giving importance to the planet that constitutes life. This paper is a comparative study of two poetry collections, Anthropocene Blues (2017) by John Lane and Anthropocene (2021) by Sudeep Sen to ascertain how these poets, belonging to two different continents represent the Anthropocene and deal with its provincialization through their poems. Through an analogical framework, this paper deliberates that how provincialization of Anthropocene facilitates a link to gain a panoramic view of the planet towards the realization of a planetary climate change.

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