THE ECOCRITICAL DIMENSION OF ARTISTIC SPACE IN T. S. ELIOT’S «THE WASTE LAND»
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2522-4077-2026-216-45Keywords:
ecocriticism, «The Waste Land», T. S. Eliot, deep ecology, anthropocentrism, artistic space, logic of domination, ecosophy, soundscape, AnthropoceneAbstract
The article analyzes the specificity of artistic space transformation in T. S. Eliot’s poem «The Waste Land» through the lens of ecocritical reading. The problem is defined from the perspective of interdisciplinary discourse that combines literary analysis with the concepts of «deep ecology», ecosophy, and social philosophy. The main aspects of «green studies», artistic versions of global environmental problems are identified, and the specificity of poetic landscape depiction in the Anthropocene epoch is outlined. The theoretical and methodological foundation of the work consists of the works of ecocriticism founders (C. Glotfelty, J Bate, L. Buell, K. Soper) and systematic developments of Ukrainian and foreign researchers (P. Barry, L. Horbolys, I Ilyinykh). The article is based on the deconstruction of anthropocentric models of humanenvironment interaction, which allows for the identification of ecocritical markers in the modernist text. The topography of the wasteland is examined as a mirror of ecological imbalance, where the absence of water and the scorched landscape reflect the state of the subject’s «ecological numbness». The «logic of domination» (according to K. Soper) is revealed through the image of the Thames, through which the transformation of a natural object into a resource zone cluttered with anthropogenic waste of industrial civilization is traced. The acoustic ecology of the work is analyzed, and the conflict between the mechanistic noises of the city and the organic geophony of the elements is revealed. It is proven that the «Voice of Thunder» in the poem’s finale performs the function of ecocritical catharsis, marking the possibility of overcoming the crisis through the formation of a «trans-individual Self» and a return to biocentric values
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