Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture, No. 12 (2022)

Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet, Christian Arnsperger

Issue 12 (2022) of Text Matters, titled The Ecological Future, edited by Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet and Christian Arnsperger of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, deals with the temporal aspect of the ecological challenge facing humanity. Time is a central category in thinking about the environment because of our focus on the planet's possible futures as well as our awareness of how quickly the climate is changing and how fast we must react if we want to prevent a catastrophe. These issues are addressed by the volume's main section, containing scholarly papers, excerpts from two books by William deBuys, a fictional narrative by John Michael Greer, a screenplay by Elizabeth Watson, and conversations with the three authors. The scholarly articles discuss the work of writers such as J. G. Ballard, Imbolo Mbue, Cherie Dimaline, Louise Erdrich, Gary Snyder, Kenneth White, Richard Powers, and M. R. Carey, as well as graphic novels, photography, painting, and cultural practices. Their main points of focus are re-flected by the titles of the five sub-sections into which they have been divided: "Tempo-rality and Deep Time," "Eco-Anxiety and Anthropocene Nostalgia," "Indigenous Pasts, Presents and Futures," "Interconnectivity and Animacy," and "Ecotopia and Eco-Futurism." The ecological futures imagined in these interventions require creating new narratives of modernity, often, as it turns out, ones inspired by Indigenous attitudes to-wards the biosphere. As the ecological is often closely linked to different approaches towards the body, the subsequent section, titled "BODY/TEXT/IMAGE," contains pa-pers discussing several works of literature as well as visual and performing arts, sharing the theme of corporeality and embodiment. The volume is concluded by a review of a scholarly volume on Shakespeare and an interview with Philip Terry.