Encontrar-se com a natureza: identidades ecológicas em Un viejo que leía novelas de amor, de Luis Sepúlveda, e La Loca de Gandoca, de Anacristina Rossi

Abstract

ABSTRACT:

This article analyses the environmentalist novels Un viejo que leía novelas de amor by Luis Sepúlveda and La loca de Gandoca by Anacristina Rossi. It proposes that the main characters of these novels exhibit ecological identities, that is, a deep identification with nature. This work follows the environmental philosopher David Utsler (2009, 2013) to discuss the idea of ecological identities. Utsler proposes the concept of environmental identity as a component of the identity and as a hermeneutical project in which the subject can find itself with nature. Environmental identity is understood as a multidimensional category, which can be studied from three philosophical intentions: the detour of reflection through analysis, the dialectic of selfhood and sameness, and the dialectic of selfhood and otherness. This essay studies how the protagonists of Sepulveda's and Rossi's novels display each of those philosophical intentions. It concludes that the ecological identities presented in the texts are part of their activist character since they call for a change that guarantees the wellness of the natural environment. That change must be done on a political, economic, and social level, as well as on a personal one.

Keywords: Anacristina Rossi. Luis Sepulveda. Environmentalist novel. Environmental identity. Ecological identity.