Theorizing Material Ecocriticism A Diptych

OpenAlex · İngilizce

What is a diptych? A diptych is a painting on two panels, or an ancient writing tablet made of two hinged leaves. In both cases, it is a material object—possibly consisting of wood or canvas, and covered with pigments or wax—which discloses and articulates a “discursive” message. Whether an artwork on an altar, or a tablet in the hands of a scribe, the diptych exceeds its “merely” material dimension, and creates a double bridge of meanings between the “text” it conveys and the world in which it occurs. In view of the increasing attention ecocritics are paying to the many ways material realities are enmeshed with meanings and narratives, our “diptych” provides an articulated vision about the key concepts of what can be called a “material ecocriticism.” Interlacing reflections on oceanic plastic, trash, subatomic particles, toxic bodies, semiotic emergences, and discursive practices, we propose to approach this interpretive model from two converging angles: that of the new materialist theories and of ecological postmodernism. Though independent from one another, our two panels form a conversation. Moving from different standpoints and experiences, they tell a conceptual story about a newly explored territory: one where material realities merge into discursive dynamics tracing the signs of new configurations much like two hinged panels or an opening book—the one that is now in your hands.