DECIPHERING THE CANOPY: TREES AND THEIR ASSERTIVE ECHOES IN THE OVERSTORY

Abstract

This paper examines Richard Powers’s novel The Overstory with specific reference to challenging traditional forms of narration. I argue that Powers’s novel challenges anthropocentric biases in narration by centralizing trees in his text and advocating eco-consciousness. However, the novel provides a significant shift in human-centric narration by acknowledging the interconnectedness and interdependence of human and non-human entities. Drawing upon the conceptual horizons of the material ecocriticism, this paper suggests that matter is not passive rather, it’s a site from where meanings can be generated and conveyed, and stories can be told. It makes us rethink the question of agency, interconnectedness, and narrativity. I will deploy material-discursive practices and intra-action put forward by Karen Barad and semiotic-materiality being co-constituted by Donna Haraway to address the activeness of matter in overall environmental operations. Hence, this paper argues that materials convey meanings, they are the co-participators of humans in the physical world, and they can bring a transformative shift through their meaningful existence.

Keywords: The Overstory, centralization of trees, anthropocentrism, material ecocriticism, Karen Barad and Donna Haraway.