ECO MYTH AND SCIENCE: CLIMATE CONSCIOUSNESS IN AMITAV GHOSH’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN

Abstract

The current research paper critically reviews Amitav Ghosh The Living Mountain : A Fable for Our Times (2022) and speaks about how the author creates the climate consciousness in the novella by combining eco-myth, Aboriginal wisdom, and science. The paper examines the manner in which the story transfers the knowledge in the environment by amalgamating a creative narration with moral judgment and argumentation logics so that literature is capable of engendering environmental awareness.

The qualitative research methodology premised on the postcolonial ecocriticism, narrative ecology, and the indigenous knowledge studies was the key to the thematic analysis of the vital passages of the text. The analysis revealed three interrelationship themes, i.e., Eco-Myth and the Agency of the Mountain, including the sentience of the mountain, its moral power, and the significance of its contribution to the evolution of inter-species knowing; Fusion of Indigenous Knowledge and Scientific Discourse; and Narrative Ethics, Relationality and Postcolonial Environmental Critique, and these suggestions will be offered on how to bring together the world of traditional ecological wisdom and empirical observation in order to develop an overarching understanding of the environment.

The findings indicate the story by Ghosh transmits the multi-dimensional climate awareness that is an amalgamation of morally contemplative, relation-friendly and epistemically diverse. The research article mainly bridges a critical gap in the existing body of literature by addressing the intersection point between an eco-myth and the scientific rationality in the cognition of the environment, demonstrating the role of literature in the body of knowledge about the environment, as well as the construct of ethical responsibility toward the natural world. The research contributes to climate fiction, ecocriticism, and environmental humanities research and provides a model of how narrative may be applied to create cognitive knowledge and moral reaction to environmental catastrophes.