Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi
Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi, the winner of numerous prestigious awards, was described as “very bold and extreme with a wonderful central idea” (Irish Examiner 2002). The “central idea” of the novel has been described differently by readers and literary critics around the world. For many, it is Pi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Belgrade
2017-09-01
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| Series: | Etnoantropološki Problemi |
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| Online Access: | http://www.eap-iea.org/index.php/eap/article/view/290 |
| _version_ | 1811191209120497664 |
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| author | Biljana Vlašković Ilić |
| author_facet | Biljana Vlašković Ilić |
| author_sort | Biljana Vlašković Ilić |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi, the winner of numerous prestigious awards, was described as “very bold and extreme with a wonderful central idea” (Irish Examiner 2002). The “central idea” of the novel has been described differently by readers and literary critics around the world. For many, it is Pi’s relationship with the tiger, Richard Parker; for some, it is the decentering of humans in favour of animals; and yet for others, the central idea of Life of Pi lies in Martel’s unusual treatment of religions and their role in human life. In this paper we argue that that the main idea of the novel is Martel’s ecocriticism of humanity in general, and especially the tendency of humans to put themselves at the center of any story, whether about animals or gods. Martel creates a tangled web of many different stories which define Pi’s life in order to prioritize the role of fiction in the development of human personality and dissect the relations between the human, the natural world, and the text. Although he favors the animal story, the final chapter reveals that the only story humans find “real” is the one in which animals are seen as anthropomorphic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T15:02:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4963e8b3d2104107b4f75dbd7b8726a9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0353-1589 2334-8801 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T15:02:35Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | University of Belgrade |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Etnoantropološki Problemi |
| spelling | doaj.art-4963e8b3d2104107b4f75dbd7b8726a92022-12-22T04:16:55ZengUniversity of BelgradeEtnoantropološki Problemi0353-15892334-88012017-09-0112310.21301/EAP.V12I3.10Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of PiBiljana Vlašković Ilić0English Department, Faculty of Philology and Arts, University of Kragujevac, SerbiaYann Martel’s novel Life of Pi, the winner of numerous prestigious awards, was described as “very bold and extreme with a wonderful central idea” (Irish Examiner 2002). The “central idea” of the novel has been described differently by readers and literary critics around the world. For many, it is Pi’s relationship with the tiger, Richard Parker; for some, it is the decentering of humans in favour of animals; and yet for others, the central idea of Life of Pi lies in Martel’s unusual treatment of religions and their role in human life. In this paper we argue that that the main idea of the novel is Martel’s ecocriticism of humanity in general, and especially the tendency of humans to put themselves at the center of any story, whether about animals or gods. Martel creates a tangled web of many different stories which define Pi’s life in order to prioritize the role of fiction in the development of human personality and dissect the relations between the human, the natural world, and the text. Although he favors the animal story, the final chapter reveals that the only story humans find “real” is the one in which animals are seen as anthropomorphic.http://www.eap-iea.org/index.php/eap/article/view/290Yann MartelLife of Pieco criticismanthropocentrismreligionfiction |
| spellingShingle | Biljana Vlašković Ilić Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi Etnoantropološki Problemi Yann Martel Life of Pi eco criticism anthropocentrism religion fiction |
| title | Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi |
| title_full | Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi |
| title_fullStr | Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi |
| title_short | Ecocriticism and Anthropocentrism in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi |
| title_sort | ecocriticism and anthropocentrism in yann martel s life of pi |
| topic | Yann Martel Life of Pi eco criticism anthropocentrism religion fiction |
| url | http://www.eap-iea.org/index.php/eap/article/view/290 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT biljanavlaskovicilic ecocriticismandanthropocentrisminyannmartelslifeofpi |