Voices of Nature: Narrative Diversity and Ecological Awareness in Contemporary Canadian Short Stories

Seyma Yonar

Abstract


This article argues that three voice strategies in contemporary Canadian eco-stories—collective we-narration (Gartner), figural animal focalization (Bone), and omniscience inflected by oral address (Maracle)—activate distinct pathways of narrative empathy (attention re-calibration, perspective-switching, metaphorical reframing). Bridging ecocriticism and narrative theory, I show how these forms redistribute agency to nonhuman actants while exposing the affordances and risks of anthropomorphism. Close readings demonstrate that Gartner’s satirical collective voice performs de-anthropocentrization, Bone’s alternating figuration stages cross-species identification within unequal power regimes, and Maracle’s you-address and cyclical temporality enact relational resurgence. I conclude by outlining how such voice-driven designs move readers from elegiac “environmental loss” toward pedagogies of care and repair.

Keywords


Ecocriticism; Canadian literature; climate fiction; cli-fi; eco-story; environmental loss; narrative voice; ecological storytelling; climate change literature; environmental consciousness;

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/nh.2025.0.147-159
Date of publication: 2025-12-31 08:45:28
Date of submission: 2025-02-28 16:34:15


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