Sinéad Gleeson and Ecocriticism: An Irish Female Voice Responds to the Brazilian Landscape

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/gskxc837

Keywords:

Ecocriticism, Sinéad Gleeson, Brazilian nature

Abstract

In a series of 23 short texts about the travel impressions of an Irish woman experiencing South America for the first time, writer Sinéad Gleeson presents her perspective on Brazilian nature, culture, language and literature in her essay “I know what spring is like: Clarice, crônicas and Corcovado” (2021). The essay was translated into Portuguese in 2023 by Maria Rita Drumond Viana and added to the Brazilian edition of the book Constellations: reflections from life (2019). Gleeson reports on the trip she took to Santa Catarina and Rio de Janeiro in 2018, highlighting how she noticed similarities with Ireland, especially regarding religion, and how she felt welcomed and comfortable in tropical lands. Even when she mentions Clarice Lispector, Gleeson perceives the writer in relation to non-human characters in the Brazilian landscape. This study aims to evoke the appreciation of the human and non-human world by Gleeson from the perspective of ecofeminist environmental ethics. Since Ecocriticism sees how the presence of nature and natural elements can influence the meanings of literary work, we propose an interpretative and subjective reading of Gleeson’s essay and how its descriptions of nature can be signified beyond the text.

Author Biographies

  • Nicea Nogueira, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

    Associate Professor at Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Minas Gerais, Brazil. Her post-doctorate research was on Literature in English at State University of Rio de Janeiro and her PhD was on Literary Theory at State University of São Paulo (Unesp). 

  • Beatriz Redmond, Universidade de São Paulo

    Undergraduate at São Francisco Law School of the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and member of the Research Group “Crossings and feminism(s): identity studies of female authorship” (UFJF / CNPq).

References

Garrard, Greg. Ecocrítica. Translated by Vera Ribeiro. Brasília: UnB, 2006.

Gleeson, Sinéad. Constellations: reflections from life. London: Picador, 2019.

Gleeson, Sinéad. Eu sei o que é primavera: Clarice, crônicas e Corcovado. In: Gleeson, Sinéad. Constelações: ensaios do corpo. Translated by Maria Rita Drumond Viana. Belo Horizonte: Relicário, 2023. p. 189-209.

Gleeson, Sinéad. “I know what Spring is like: Clarice, crônicas and Corcovado”. Granta Magazine, London, 18 Nov. 2021.

Gleeson, Sinéad (ed.). The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers. Dublin: New Island, 2015.

Gifford, Terry. A ecocrítica na mira da crítica atual. Translated by Izabel Brandão. Terceira Margem, Rio de Janeiro, Year 13, n. 20, p. 244-261, Jan./July 2009.

Glotfelty, Cheryll. Introduction: Literary studies in an age of environmental crisis. In: Glotfelty, Cheryll; Fromm, Harold (eds.). The Ecocriticism reader: landmarks in literary ecology. Athens: University of Georgia, 1996. p. xv-xxxvii.

Lispector, Clarice. Discovering the World. Translated by Giovanni Pontiero. Manchester: Carcanet, 1992.

Notari, Juliana. Diva. Usina de Arte, 2020. Available at: https://www.juliananotari.com/diva-intervencao/. Access on: 21st June 2024.

Rueckert, William. Literature and ecology: an experiment in ecocriticism. In: Glotfelty, Cheryll; Fromm, Harold (eds.). The Ecocriticism reader: landmarks in literary ecology. Athens: University of Georgia, 1996. p. 105-123.

Downloads

Published

19-10-2024

Issue

Vol. 26 No. 2 (2024): ABEI Journal 26.2

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Nicea Nogueira, Beatriz Redmond

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Nogueira, N., & Redmond, B. (2024). Sinéad Gleeson and Ecocriticism: An Irish Female Voice Responds to the Brazilian Landscape. ABEI Journal, 26(2), 13-22. https://doi.org/10.11606/gskxc837