Bilbro, Jeffrey. “The Ecological Thought.(Book Review).” Christianity and Literature no. 4 (2012): 693.
Abstract: In his latest book, Timothy Morton provides those scholars who are interested in the growing field of ecocriticism but not sure what all the fuss is about with a provocative, accessible introduction to the radical implications and intriguing possibilities that ecology offers for cultural theory. Those looking for literary analysis or an overview ofthe current state of environmental literary theory should turn elsewhere—starting with Lawrence Bueil’s excellent, if now slightly dated. The Future of Environmental Criticism: Environmental Crisis and Literary Imagination (2005). In The Ecological Thought, Morton leaves behind the close textual analysis, high-level theory, and, thankfully, the impenetrable prose, of his previous book. Ecology without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics (2007). Instead, he offers a series of probing thought experiments and far-reaching cultural and theoretical analyses that explore ecology’s cultural implications. Morton’s style embodies the provocative irony that he argues the ecological thought demands as he takes on the role of “the irritating Columbo-style guy at the back of the room, the one who asks the unanswerable question” (115). So while many of Morton’s answers suggest that his conception of :he ecological thought is not as radical as he thinks it is, or as it perhaps should be, his questions challenge scholars in the liberal arts to wrestle with the consequences of ecology’s recent scientific discoveries.
