Introduction

While ecocriticism seeks to trace ecological concepts and representations wherever they appear in various cultural spheres (Kerridge 1998, 5), the cross-fertilization between environmental discourse and literary studies has located ecocriticism as an evaluative framework via which to view, explore and analyze the interconnections between literature and the environment. A broad range of emergent theoretical approaches continue to shape the contours of ecocritical thinking. One such approach is ecofeminism, a philosophical “subfield” and “hybrid label” of critical endeavour (Glotfelty 1996, xxi and xxiv). Ecofeminist thinking is oriented toward exploring the linkages between the oppression of women and environmental collapse, representing a theoretical orientation marking ecocriticism with a distinctively feminist inclination. Critical questions in much of the ecofeminist literature highlight women’s reproductive capacity and the extent to which social imperatives around caregiving and caretaking continue to wed women to nature and human life. This focus, while integral, has effectively dominated, and by extension, limited the capacities of ecofeminism to extend beyond the broader reaches of women’s productive and reproductive functions. This volume will make a significant contribution to communicating beyond the biological elements of menstruation and pregnancy, interests which determines the direction of much ecofeminist theory, toward seriously engaging with a fundamental discourse effectively silenced in ecofeminist thinking: Menopause.