Poetics of Belonging: An Ecocritical Reading of Kavery Nambisan’s The Scent of Pepper

In the 21st century marked by communicational advances and technological developments, issues related to environment have gained momentum. Man’s changing relationship to the natural world has become the focus of many literary texts produced in the contemporary era. The ambivalent attitude of man towards nature has been continuing since eons, as he is not willing to accommodate the role of the environment within the paradigms of the socio-cultural framework. The literary world has witnessed the production of numerous narratives which bring to the fore the existential and material crisis confronted by man within the space of the environment. The present paper titled Poetics of Belonging: An Ecocritical Reading of Kavery Nambisan’s The Scent of Pepper proposes to analyse Kavery Nambisan’s The Scent of Pepper from an ecocritical perspective, as it demonstrates the intrinsic relationship that exists between the landscape of Coorg and its central character Nanji. Set against the lushy hillside of Coorg, the novel also throws light on the postmodern condition characterized by alienation of man from nature and erosion of ethical values related to the preservation of environment against the onslaught of the demanding needs of urbanisation and techno-modernity.

Ecocriticism as a literary movement is gradually making its presence felt in the mainstream scenario, and with its interdisciplinary collaboration is maturing itself into a school of criticism in its own right. Ecocriticism, with its environment–oriented study of literature, emerged as an important theoretical tool in the 1990s, and focuses on the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. Several literary critics and scholars have worked on definin...

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...es, and acknowledge the fact that man’s life is regulated and controlled by the nature around, for nature is at the centre of man’s life.

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