Beyond Human Exceptionalism: A Critical Analysis of Amitav Ghosh’s The Living Mountain: A Fable for Our Times

Abstract

Aim: This paper aims to critically examine and address the entanglements of cultural imagination, colonial exploitation, and the climate crisis. Drawing on the concept of imperialism and Renaissance humanism, this study critiques the role of the anthropocentric worldview in ecological collapse. It attempts to destabilise the notion of human exceptionalism by foregrounding the active presence of nonhuman agency.

Methodology and Approach: This study employs a qualitative, text-centred approach and adheres to the MLA 9 guidelines. Analysing the selected text, through the critical lenses of Anthropocene and Posthumanism, the study engages with Dipesh Chakrabarty’s notion of entangled histories and humans as geological agents, Donna Haraway’s idea of sympoiesis and multispecies kinship, and Bruno Latour’s concept of Gaia and the new climatic regime.

Outcome: Amitav Ghosh, through this intriguing fable, compels us to reimagine literature’s role in highlighting the gravity of the planetary crisis and calls for ecological consciousness. This paper, with a particular focus on challenging the paradigm of human exceptionalism, contributes to posthumanist ecocriticism by foregrounding the intertwined histories of colonialism, capitalism and environmental catastrophe.

Conclusion and Suggestions: The study concludes that recognising nonhuman agency and respecting ecological limits is essential for sustainable development. It suggests writing and promoting literary works that foreground nonhuman agency and reinforce the notion of coexistence.