The conversation will explore a key issue that emerges from Thao Nguyen Phan’s work: how does the poetic image interact with ecological discourse? Pierre Schoentjes, a literary scholar, and Xavier Desmit, a marine biologist, will delve into water stories that populate imaginary and real worlds alike. How is the ecology of water treated in literature and how does the fictional representation of environmental issues impact ecological engagement?
These questions will be addressed through Xavier Desmit’s scientific approach, which looks at the effects of modified water cycles on the marine ecosystem; and Pierre Schoentjes’ study of ecopoetics, a field of literary studies that analyses the relation between the ethics of ecological awareness and the aesthetics of poetic creation.
Pierre Schoentjes is a professor of French Literature at the University of Ghent. In 2012 he launched the critical journal of French contemporary fixxion and his book Ce qui a lieu. Essai d’écopoétique (Wildproject, 2015) is the first monography dedicated to ecopoetics in French literature. He is also a member Pré jury (Prize for Ecological Novel) and is the main coordinator of the project Literature, Environment and Ecology: an ecopoetic approach to contemporary French, Italian, German and English-speaking fiction at the University of Ghent.
Xavier Desmit is a researcher in marine ecology at the Belgian Royal Institute of Natural Sciences. He is engaged in the widespread dissemination of science with a view to raising awareness about global warming and the consequent destruction of marine ecosystems.
22.03.2020, 15:30 – 17:00
Free with exhibition ticket
Auditorium
Discussion in French