Volume 5, Number 3

Reconfiguring the Man and Nature Dynamics a Peep into the Short Stories of
Ruskin Bond in the Search of an Ecological Self

  Authors

Minakshi Paul, Kandra Radhakanta Kundu Mahavidyalaya, India

  Abstract

The European tradition is the tradition of binary, which results in the polarities . Where the traditional anthropocentric humanism emphasizes on Man, Posthumanism attempts to decentralize Man. In that very context this paper tries to map out an attempt of the Anglo-Indian writer Ruskin Bond to work upon the ‘in between spaces’ of the two prevalent trends, allowing f a dialogue between the human and the non human. All the institutional measures being failed in ecological conservation, what is required now to be done is to dwell a little upon the philosophical manifestation and aesthetic extensions of Nature, not a blunt mystification of Nature that Bond is often accused of but a redemption of the ecological concerns from the severe neglect that it has been suffering for the past few decades. And this is where the role of literature comes to the forefront. Adhering to the principles of Deep ecology what Bond has succeeded in accomplishing is to generate the essence of Man as an ecological being superseding the status of man as a social being which can afford to be decentralized in this age of the global climatic crisis. Though Bond is annoyed with the commercialized attitude of man towards wildlife, at no point of time he ostracizes Man from the scenario. Challenging the traditional humanist norm, he persuades man for a transcendence of ego and an extension of the sense of identification beyond the usual narrow focus on ego to a wider spheres of relationships.

  Keywords

Deep Ecology, Ecosophy, Eco-ethics, Posthuman.