The Expansion of Western Ecocriticism from the Perspective of “Anthropocene”

Since proposed at the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of “anthropocene” has been attracting wide attention and heated discussions in western academic fields, including ecocriticism that focuses on the perspective of environment and nature. Western ecocritical scholars respond quickly to the concept of “anthropocene”, reflecting on the geological impact of human beings, and trying to extend the scope of academic research in mainly two dimensions: time and space, specifically humans as the subject, environment as the object, and contents and approaches of research, which may continuously deepen and expand its academic horizon under the inspiration and urge of this new concept: the cultivation of sense of planet, telling of disastrous stories and the discourse of slow violence.