Symbolic and Affective Dimensions of Human-Animal Relationships in Anuradha Roy’s The Earthspinner

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20420/Phil.Can.2024.676

Keywords:

affective ecocriticism, symbolism, The Earthspinner, myth and tradition, human-animals relations

Abstract

The Earthspinner (2021) is a multi-layered work in which the dog Chinna acts as an emotional link between all the characters. This paper aims to examine the novel through the lens of affective ecocriticism, focusing on how Roy relates imagery of fire, water and earth to emotions of loss, longing and hatred in the novel. Following a polyhedral analysis, I have chosen to focus on the lives, vicissitudes and misadventures of the novel’s three main characters, paying attention to the affections that move and guide their lives and to the different axes around which Anuradha Roy has constructed this novel. Finally, and given the symbolic richness of The Earthspinner, I will offer a global hermeneutic analysis along with the final conclusions.       

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Author Biography

María Luz González-Rodríguez, Universidad de La Laguna

Associate Professor in the Department of English and German Philology at the Universidad de La Laguna. Her main research interests revolve around Anglo-Canadian and South Asian literature. She has published more than 50 studies on the relationship between literature written by women and their environment and on questions of identity from a psychoanalytic, symbolic, ecocritical and affective perspective, including issues of race, gender, and caste. González-Rodríguez is also coordinator of the Research Group "Postcolonial English-language literatures" at the Universidad de La Laguna, which focuses on studies on India —inside and outside the diaspora—, the United States, Canada, and Singapore.

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Published

2024-06-22

How to Cite

González-Rodríguez, M. L. (2024). Symbolic and Affective Dimensions of Human-Animal Relationships in Anuradha Roy’s The Earthspinner. Philologica Canariensia, 30, 259–274. https://doi.org/10.20420/Phil.Can.2024.676

Issue

Vol. 30 (2024)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2024 María Luz González Rodríguez

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