Reading Landscapes: An Exploration of Ranikhet in Anuradha Roy’s The Folded Eart

Abstract

Ecocriticism is the study of the interrelationship between human beings and the non-human world. It evolves with the writers like Lawrence Buell, William Rueckert, Rachel Carson and Margaret Fuller. There should exist a close correspondence between human culture and ecology. Literature has become a tool to reflect the environmental consciousness of writers to the readers. Indian writers depict the devastating condition of Nature in their writings. Nature is beautiful in all its forms. It deserves reverence and respect from mankind as it serves as a mother, healer, teacher and provider. But human beings for their selfishness destroy Nature in the name of modernization and Industrialization. The paper attempts to study the prominent role of Nature in the life of man through the landscape Ranikhet which is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas. Anuradha Roy portrays the exotic beauty of the village and how it gets destroyed by mankind in the name of scientific advancement.