Vegetal Imagination in the Anthropocene: Plants, Storytelling and Climate Crisis in the Works of Amitav Ghosh

Details

Supervisors

De Bruyn, Ben

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation germaniques, à finalité spécialisée: langues des affaires

Abstract

This thesis examines Amitav Ghosh’s representation of plant life in The Hungry Tide (2004), Gun Island (2019), and The Nutmeg’s Curse (2021), offering a sustained study of his “vegetal imagination”. While existing criticism on Ghosh focuses on his engagement with the Anthropocene, postcolonial history, and multispecies perspectives, little attention has been paid to plants in an extensive way, especially for his latest works. Combining ecocriticism, econarratology, and plant studies, this research argues that Ghosh’s plants function as witnesses, archives, and co-creators of ecological stories. In The Hungry Tide, mangroves shape narrative time through tidal cycles; in Gun Island, sacred groves and vegetal myths structure a rhizomatic migration narrative; and in The Nutmeg’s Curse, the nutmeg tree bears witness to colonial violence and environmental change. Across these works, vegetal life challenges human-centred storytelling and situates the climate crisis within deep histories of empire. This research fills a gap in Ghosh scholarship and contributes to environmental humanities debates on nonhuman agency and more-than-human narratives.