Deep Ecology and Temporal Resistance: Reimagining Anthropocene and Arboreal Agency in Richard Powers’ The Overstory

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt at examining how nature and its elements represents “scalar resistance” against the dominance of anthropogenic temporal agency in addressing and understanding climate crisis. Richard Powers’ The Overstory (2018) represents this paradigmatic shift in the contemporary environmental narratives, challenging the preeminence of anthropocentric interpretations through the revolutionary representation of non-human agency ‘trees’ and deep ecological time. Powers debunk the traditional human-nature binaries to emphasize on the mycorrhizal narrative structure which privileges nonhuman agency and elements. The paper takes into consideration ecological theory and deep ecology principles to challenge the capping implications and anthropogenic centrality of climate crisis both in the socio- political justifications and literary trends. Through intensive textual analysis using deep ecology, ecocriticism and plant studies theories, the paper highlights the novel’s innovative narrative structure to demonstrate a unique literary ecosystem that operates as per the arboreal rather than the anthropocentric logic. The paper aims to contribute to the emerging discussions and debates in environmental studies by exhibiting how literature can be a potent medium of creating ‘neo-ethical ecology’ for a future where both humanity and nature drive the practical, inclusive and sustainable solutions for the green earth and harmonious co-existence.