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Ecocritical theory began to be studied in Turkish academia during the late 1990s by pioneer scholars, Ufuk Özdağ and Serpil Oppermann. However, it was after 2000 that ecocritical studies started to gain popularity among Turkish scholars of the humanities. Although nature-oriented research dates back to earlier times in Turkish academia, research on a wide variety of genres and issues within the scope of ecocriticism created change by a re-evaluation of nature and human relationships. This research aims to provide a comprehensive survey of ecocritical studies of the last two decades, and explore Turkish ecocritical scholarship under two major headings: published books/articles, and unpublished dissertations. The ultimate purpose of this research is to introduce Turkish ecocritical studies to international scholars, to determine the least and most scrutinised ecocritical subfields, and to establish a framework for Turkish researchers of ecocritical theory. This article also strives to become a guide for future Turkish scholars of the humanities who are just stepping into ecocritical theory.

“The Purloined Letter” is the third of the three Dupin stories that Edgar A. Poe wrote and published in 1844. Contrary to being a typical example of detective fiction which usually involves an investigation to find out what is being kept hidden, “The Purloined Letter” is rather concerned with finding out what is being kept in plain sight. Dupin’s familiarity with logic, math and physics enables him to look at the matter at hand from an exceptionally distinct perspective. Unlike the chief police officer of the Paris Police Department, Dupin firmly believes that the purloined letter has never been concealed at all. To prove his point, he emphasizes the ability to identify with the opponent and draws an analogy from a game of guessing in which one player is expected to make a correct guess about what the other player is thinking of. Dupin also makes a philosophical point regarding the failure of human mind to notice the obvious, which is a result of its tendency to believe that it can find the obvious in minute details. Dupin also believes that the only way to obtain the letter is to purloin it back from the robber who purloined it. And hence he purloins the letter in almost the same way as it was first purloined. The purloining of the letter is mirrored in the re-purloining of it. In the light of all this, this paper aims to explain why the Police fail to find the letter and why the letter gets back to its owner only after the purloining of the letter repeats itself.

James Graham Ballard was a contemporary British novelist who published a wide variety of works ranging from climate fiction to transgressive fiction. “The Ultimate City” (1976) is one of Ballard’s short stories that portrays a dystopian vision where a utopian urban experiment transforms into a catastrophe. The story tells the attempt of the protagonist, Halloway and his company to reanimate a city that was abandoned years ago due to oil depletion. Halloway aims to bring the city back to life through the limited amount of oil left in the city, only to confront chaos and disorder. Using the concepts of Ecotopia and petroculture, this article aims to explore the ways in which oil shapes and destroys modern societies and possible alternatives to this predicament in Ballard’s work. To this end, after a theoretical discussion of these concepts, the article examines the ecotopian features in the ecological community in the text and compares it to the consumerist culture of the metropolis; and later addresses the problem of oil that is an essential component of modern urban life. This part of the article reveals the degree of dependence on oil and the transformative power associated with it through examples from the story. The article argues that “The Ultimate City” is a premonition to the reader concerning the current energy politics that may culminate in a total disaster unless necessary steps are taken.

Oscar Wilde’ın tek romanı, Dorian Gray’in Portresi geniş çapta pek çok kuramsal ve tematik bakış açısıyla günümüze dek analiz konusu olmuştur. Bu araştırma, Wilde’ın ünlü eserine felsefi bir yorum getirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Özel anlamda, makale, ana karaktere ve onun hikâye boyunca kendine çizdiği yola odaklanarak Dorian Gray’in Portresi’nin diyalektik okumasını gerçekleştirmeyi hedeflemektedir. Bu bağlamda roman, GWF. Hegel’in diyalektik triad olarak bilinen: tez, antitez ve sentez çerçevesinden yola çıkarak tartışılmaktadır. Araştırmanın kuramsal çerçevesi Hegel’in diyalektik sistemine odaklanmakta ve belirtilen üç aşamayı çeşitli metin ve kaynaklara yapılan referanslarla incelemektedir. Araştırmanın ikinci bölümü ise Wilde’ın Dorian Gray’in Portresi’nin kurgusunda söz konusu üç aşamayı tanımlayarak, ana karakterin gençliğini ve güzelliğini sonsuza dek koruyabilmek amacıyla hikâye boyunca yapmış olduğu ve hayati önem arz eden diyalektik seçimleri açığa çıkarmaktadır. Böylece makale, Dorian Gray karakterinin insanlığın diyalektik doğasını açığa çıkardığı ve bununla birlikte rasyonel ve ahlaki bir zihin yapısı ile doğru tercihlerin yapılmasının ne denli önemli olduğu sonucuna varmaktadır. Daha özel anlamda, Dorian Gray karakterinin tez ve antitez evresini deneyimlediği ancak nihayetinde antitez aşamasında sıkışıp kaldığı ve sentez aşamasına ulaşamayarak, kendi erken yıkımına sebebiyet verdiği sonucuna ulaşılmaktadır., Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray has been the subject of analysis from a wide variety of theoretical and thematic perspectives. This study endeavours to conduct a philosophical interpretation of the renowned Wildean work of fiction. In specific, the article aims to carry out a dialectic reading of The Picture of Dorian Gray by concentrating on the protagonist and the path he takes throughout the narrative. To this end, the novel is discussed through the framework of GWF. Hegel’s dialectic triad of the thesis, antithesis and synthesis. The theoretical section of the study focuses on the Hegelian dialectic system and scrutinises the three stages with references to various texts and sources. The second part of the study contemplates to establish a dialectic reading of Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, identifying these three stages within the story and exposing the vital dialectic choices the protagonist makes along his quest to preserve youth and beauty forever. The article concludes that Dorian Gray exposes the dialectic nature of human beings and highlights the significance of making the right choices through a rational and moral state of mind. In particular, it has been concluded that Dorian experiences the thesis and the antithesis but ultimately gets caught up in the antithesis and does not manage to achieve the synthesis stage, causing his early self-destruction.

Scottish playwright Stef Smith’s Human Animals (2016) recounts the fictional story of a government exterminating all animals in London with the pragmatic pursuit of building commercial construction sites on their natural habitats. In line with recent trends of thought, dramatic texts are getting more engaged with different natures of the relationship between human animals and non-human animals. In this context, animal studies posit a focal place in the analysis of Smith’s contemporary play, Human Animals. Animal studies take into account the interconnections between humans and animals, thereby making it possible to problematise the concepts of anthropocentrism and speciesism in works of literature. This study aims to analyse Stef Smith’s Human Animals as an example by using critical animal studies perspectives with an emphasis on the essentialist human-animal divide. In a more specific context, the article reveals the impact of anthropocentrism through a case study that exemplifies humanity’s vicious plans to eradicate all non-human beings for the sake of profit and personal interest. Stef Smith presents different characters which embody disparate viewpoints and exposes the anthropocentric nature of humanity. Smith’s portrayal of a dystopian setting not only aims at criticising anthropocentric line of thought but also exposes humanity’s tendencies towards speciesism., İskoç oyun yazarı Stef Smith'in Human Animals (İnsan Hayvanlar) (2016) adlı oyunu, Londra'daki tüm hayvanları doğal ortamlarında ticari şantiyeler inşa etmek gibi pragmatik bir arayışla yok eden bir hükümetin kurgusal hikayesini anlatır. Son zamanlardaki düşünce eğilimleriyle uyumlu olarak, dramatik metinler, insan ve insan olmayan hayvanlar arasındaki ilişkinin farklı doğalarıyla daha fazla ilgilenmektedir. Bu doğrultuda, hayvan çalışmaları, Smith'in oyununun analizinde odak noktasını oluşturur. Hayvan çalışmaları, insanlarla hayvanlar arasındaki ve farklı statüdeki hayvanlar arasındaki bağlantıları dikkate alarak, edebiyat eserlerinde insanmerkezcilik ve türcülük kavramlarını sorunsallaştırmayı mümkün kılar. Bu çalışma, örnek bir eser olarak Stef Smith'in Human Animals oyununu geleneksel insan-hayvan ayrımına vurgu yaparak, kritik hayvan çalışmaları perspektiflerini kullanarak analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Makale, bu bağlamda, insan-merkezciliğin etkisini, insanlığın kâr ve kişisel çıkar uğruna tüm insan olmayan varlıkları ortadan kaldırmaya yönelik kötü planlarını örnekleyen bir olay aracılığıyla ortaya koymaktadır. Stef Smith, farklı bakış açılarına sahip karakterler aracılığıyla insanlığın insan merkezci doğasını dışa vurmaktadır. Smith’in bu distopik kurgusu sadece insan merkezci düşünce şeklini eleştirmekle kalmayıp, insanlığın tür ayrımcılığına yönelik eğilimlerini de yansıtmaktadır.

J.G. Ballard is one of the most influential British authors of the 20th century. Renowned for his surrealist works of fiction, Ballard delivered the primary examples of climate fiction. The Drowned World is J.G. Ballard’s second novel of a post-apocalyptic quadrilogy. The novel tells the story of a scientist’s quest for survival amidst a global flood. Moreover, Beatrice Dahl happens to be the only woman left alive in London and the sole woman character of the novel itself. To that end, ecofeminism is a comprehensive theory which combines feminist thought with the school of ecocriticism. The Drowned World is a novel that incorporates notions of social ecofeminism through the character of Beatrice. This article aims to provide a social ecofeminist analysis of Ballard’s The Drowned World by focusing on the character of Beatrice Dahl. All in all, the relationship between patriarchal capitalism and the oppression of women and nature is exposed in the article with specific references to the novel.

As the all-time longest running television cartoon, The Simpsons bears a great deal of political implications. Among these implications, class conflict in general and Gramscian and Althusserian stand out in particular. Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser are two intellectuals who have provided serious contributions to Marxist literary theory. This article examines the renowned, American television show, The Simpsons from the viewpoint of Gramscian and Althusserian thought. Thus, the study analyses the famous cartoon from the perspective of class conflict and criticizes it through the window of Gramscian civil society and hegemony while at the same time scrutinizing the work of popular culture by referring to Althusser’s notion of ideological and state apparatuses. Having analysed these notions in the Simpsons, the article concludes by demonstrating how seriously incorporated the Simpsons actually is with Gramscian and Althusserian references and how these are embedded in the sub-layers of the television production.

David Mitchell’ın Bulut Atlası, altı farklı bölümden, hikâyeden oluşan ve altı farklı konum ve zaman diliminde yer alan baş döndürücü postmodern bir eserdir. İlk bölümden son bölüme kadar genel hikâye, insanlığın dünyadaki varoluşunun beş yüz yılını kapsamaktadır. Bu altı bölüm her ne kadar birbiriyle ilgisiz görünse de bütünü itibariyle tamamı birbiriyle ilişkilidir. Bütüncül olarak, Bulut Atlası, dünyadaki insan etkinlikleri tarafından şekillenen antroposen çağının kısa bir özetini sunmaktadır. Buna bağlı olarak, ekofeminizm, ikinci dalga ekoeleştiri kuramı ile ortaya çıkmış olan bir alt kuramdır ve temel anlamda kadınlar ile doğanın yaşamış oldukları zulüm ve baskının birbiriyle bağlantılı olduğunu öne sürmektedir. Buna ek olarak, kadınlar ile patriyarkal kapitalizm arasındaki ortak noktalar da irdelenmiştir. Bu makale, yazar David Mitchell’ın bu çok katmanlı romanında kadınları, ezilenleri ve doğayı beş yüz yıllık süre boyunca meydana gelen bu kapsamlı anlatıda nasıl yansıttığına odaklanmaktadır. Bu kapsamda kadınların, ezilenlerin ve doğal çevrenin içinde bulundukları durumlar arasındaki benzerlikler açığa çıkarılmaktadır. Makale, romanın ilk, orta ve son olmak üzere üç bölümünü ele almaktadır. Antroposen çağının temsili olarak başlangıç, zirve noktası ve sonrasını temsil eden bu üç bölüm romandan referanslarla ayrıntılı biçimde analiz edilmektedir. Çalışmanın sonunda, Bulut Atlasının kadınlara, ekofeminist hareket kapsamında, doğa merkezli yeni bir dünya düzeninin kuruluşunu sağlayacak, alternatif bir çevre felsefesinin oluşumunda liderlik görevini üstlenme rolünü yüklediği sonucuna varılmıştır, David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas is a dazzling postmodern work of fiction which includes six different narratives in six chapters, taking place in six time periods and locations. From the first chapter to the last, the narratives span over five centuries of human whereabouts on earth. Though disparate these chapters may seem at first sight, they are actually interrelated as a whole. In holistic terms, Cloud Atlas represents a brief survey of the anthropocene age, constructed directly from the human activities on this planet. To that end, ecofeminism is a sub-theory of ecocriticism which emerged within the second wave of ecocriticism. The theory mainly defends that the oppression of women and nature is interconnected. This article focuses on how Mitchell reflects women and nature in a multi-layered narrative that evolves in a course of five hundred years. Similarities between the conditions of women and the natural environment are thereby compared and exposed. While maintaining this, the article focuses on three main chapters of the novel which are the initial, middle and the last chapters. Finally, these chapters which represent the initiation, zenith and aftermath of the anthropocene age are analyzed in detail with references to the novel. Finally, it has been concluded that Cloud Atlas ascribes a vital role to women, within the context of the ecofeminist movement, to lead the way for the foundation of an alternative environmental philosophy which will ensure an ecocentric, new world order.

As the all-time longest running television cartoon, The Simpsons bears a great deal of political implications. Among theseimplications, class conflict in general and Gramscian and Althusserian stand out in particular. Antonio Gramsci and LouisAlthusser are two intellectuals who have provided significant contributions to Marxist literary theory. This article examinesthe renowned, American television show, The Simpsons from the viewpoint of Gramscian and Althusserian thought. Thus, thestudy analyzes the famous cartoon from the perspective of class conflict and criticizes it through the window of Gramsciancivil society and hegemony while at the same time scrutinizing the work of popular culture by referring to Althusser’s notionof ideological and state apparatuses. Having analyzed these notions in The Simpsons, the article concludes by demonstratinghow seriously incorporated The Simpsons actually is with Gramscian and Althusserian references and how these are embeddedin the sub-layers of the television production. Finally, it also reveals that the happiness behind the parody is purely artificialand leaves many questions unanswered.

Game of Thrones is a stunning medieval fantasy which tells the story of the immense struggle for power in an ancient world named ‘The Seven Kingdoms’. It was originally written as a series of novels by the American author George R. R. Martin in 1996 and adapted to the TV screen by HBO in 2011. The series has completed its sixth season and is scheduled to go on for a total of eight seasons. Since its first broadcast in 2011, A Game of Thrones has attracted millions of viewers on a global scale and has received a total of 38 Emmy Awards. In A Game of Thrones, gender is one of the central themes, as power relations generally evolve around different gender roles. This study analyses masculinity in A Game of Thrones and the different types of masculinities which are identified through various male and female characters. This classification places all of the characters in two distinct gender categories. It also reveals the impact of these diverse forms of masculinities on the lives of the main characters and the general storyline of the production. Thus, the paper deconstructs the constructed masculinities in A Game of Thrones by exposing their representation through the main characters.