It refers to one of the orientations of comparative literature as having first been implemented by Paul Van Tighem since 1931. This field of study gained ground and recognition through the creation of a Journal of the History of Ideas.
This field is at the crossroads of philosophy and history. It is interested in "ideas" in the broadest and the more general sense of the term rather than in its doctrinal sense. Idea designates knowledge, abstract reflexion or intellectual representation. History of ideas thus studies the evolution of human thinking or human mentality through time and space. Humans during Antiquity had a different mindset than humans during the Middle Ages or humans during the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, or the Modernist era. As a matter of instance, behind every change in the history of Europe, there is a current of thought. Intellectual currents represent the motor of society.
What makes a given society move ahead and head for a specific change is always a specific current of thought. For example, Church indoctrination during the middle ages has been replaced by Humanism during the Renaissance. Humanism as a current of thought favors human thinking over established doctrines and it has lead the way for the era of flourishing and revival that the Renaissance is.
Often times, this change occurring in society is lead by avant-gardist intellectuals and thinkers. Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Switzerland are perfect examples. Through their intellectual efforts they changed and reformed the map of europe by reforming and liberating the minds from the thoughts dictated by the catholic church (the Vatican as an authority).
Also, the changes happening in Europe and America during the 18th century owe it all to Enlightenment thinkers. In France, they were called "les philosophes": Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu among others. Their intellectual force influenced intellectuals outside France. As is the case in USA mainly Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. The American revolution, the American Declaration of independence and the Bill of Rights are products of the enlightenment as a current of thought that advocates reason, logic, and scientific thinking instead of tradition.
History of ideas studies the circulation of thoughts and ideas through time and space. Comparative Literature is interested in that field of study mainly because those intellectual currents are carried by literature and arts. Literature and arts constitute a sort of arteries through which ideas circulate to influence and make changes in societies. Literature and Art also reflect the mentality and the mindset of humans in the time and place where it is produced. During the Age of enlightenment, realism was the literary and artistic tendency. Realism as a literary current helped spreading reason as a mode of thought and by that enabled that current of thought to be transmitted from the minority intellectual elite (avant-guard) and influence the majority (common people).
Categories of ideas: Ideas can be categorized mainly as follows:
Philosophical Ideas: like Existentialism, Absurdism...
Moral or Ethical Ideas: Moral values...
Religious or Theological Ideas: Religious values...
Scientific Ideas: like Freudianism, Darwinism...
Political Ideas: like Capitalism, Communism, Socialism...
Study case:
When we observe the era in which we live, which is characterized by technological and scientific advancement, it is clear that the avant-gardist aspirations in all the fields mostly all head toward a reconciliation with the environment. Economy aspires for sustainable development. Tourism aspires for green tourism or what is called ecotourism. Car industry aspires for environment friendly cars using green energies. Agricultural production advocates the label "BIO" or "Organic". The same with clothing industry and fashion, there is a coming back to natural raw materials.
If the avant-guard favors ecology it is due to the drastic consequences of massive industry on the environment. The flagrant threat on the environment (and by extension on humans' survival) by industry has led to the elite's concern about ecology.
Literature as a vessel that carries avant-guardist ideas contributes in spreading the ecological concern. Many literary texts and artistic works has dealt with the environment long before current concern about the environment.
Examples:
• Algerian Chaabi Music mirrors the Algerian culture's interest in and respect for birds. Probably because Algerians' longing for freedom during colonial times made birds stand as a revered symbol for freedom.
• Many post-colonial texts depict the coming of the colonizer by imposing his ways and order as a disturbance to the harmony that the colonized has with his natural environment. Colonialism causes disorder and chaos by affecting the environment. This change in the relationship with the environment affects the colonized cultural ways.
• The extinction of certain living organisms also lead to the extinction of culture. Certain animals or plants carry a cultural value and their disappearance cause the death of culture. In the same way, change in the environment (geography or climate) alter and distort culture.
Ecocritism:
According to Jelica Tošić in her article Ecocriticism - Interdisciplinary Study of Literature and Environment:
The word ecocriticism is a semineologism.2 Eco is short of ecology, which is con-
cerned with the relationships between living organisms in their natural environment as
well as their relationships with that environment. By analogy, ecocriticism is concerned
with the relationships between literature and environment or how man's relationships with
his physical environment are reflected in literature. These are obviously interdisciplinary
studies, unusual as a combination of a natural science and a humanistic discipline. The
domain of ecocriticism is very broad because it is not limited to any literary genre. […] It is appropriate here to stress that it was only in the 1990s that ecocriticism emerged
as a separate discipline although it is a fact that the relationship between man and his
physical environment had always been interesting to literary critics.3 This interest, both at
the basic scientific level and in the metaphorical form in literature, can be explained in
two ways: 1. man always exists within some natural environment or, according to Buell,
there cannot be is without where,4 and 2. the last decade of the twentieth century was the
time when it became obvious that the greatest problem of the twenty-first century would
be the survival of the Earth. The first explanation is concerned with man's essential quest
for personal identity or with his need and failure to find his roots. That is the reason why
he is a life-long wanderer, on the one hand, and why he is always identified with the fa-
miliar physical and cultural environment, on the other.5 The latter explanation results
from the fact that man feels vitally threatened in the ecologically degraded world. Over-
exploitation of natural resources and man's disregard of the air, water and soil that sustain
him have given rise to the question of the survival of both man and the planet (Earth). The
end of the twentieth century showed clearly that everyone had to do something to help the
Earth survive. Ecocriticism is one of the ways in which humanists fight for the world in
which they live. The reflection of that difficult struggle in the area of culture and spirit
speaks for the urgency of action or the urgent need to do something in this respect. P44
Ecology is the science that studies the relationships between living organisms (biotic
component) and their physical environment (abiotic component). In other words, ecology
is concerned with the living organisms in their natural environment. Although it is not
explicitly stated here, ecology is anthropocentric whereas deep ecology originating from
the endeavor to promote life as such is biocentric and stresses the fact that man is only
one part in a huge and complex life net in nature in which everything has a certain value.
That is why man has to realize that he is not allowed and entitled to reduce the richness
and variety of the living world except for the satisfaction of his basic needs. P45
Table 1. Ecological Terms as a Source of Ecocriticism and Language Study
Ecology
|
Ecocriticism and language study
|
ecology
|
deep ecology
|
physical environment
|
environmental imagination
reimagination
|
biodiversity
|
global environmental culture environmental unconscious |
endangered species
|
ecocultural habitat
|
pollution
|
toxic discourse
literary hazards
language pollution |
For further understanding of these concepts concepts check the article:
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