환경위기 담론으로서의 종말론적 수사학 재고

초록

Apocalyptic narrative has become a very popular rhetorical means in well-known environment-related writings ranging from science-oriented books like Carson's Silent Spring to the most recent books by environmental thinkers, politicians, and writers such as Al Gore's The Inconvenient Truth and Bill McKibben's Eaarth. Consequently, it has attracted ecocritical attention, but ecocritics as well as environmental thinkers disagree over whether apocalyptic narrative and vision are effective in raising ecological concerns and awareness among general readers. This question of environmental rhetorical communication carries important implication in ecocritical studies because, from the point of departure, ecocriticism has vowed to take literary study's social responsibility in the age of environmental crisis by means of raising ecological awareness. However, arguments made by both proponents and opponents stop short of elaborating on why; their arguments are no less than superficial and declaratory judgement. This study examines and analyzes the American general public's psychological and emotional responses to environmental crisis and concludes that apocalyptic rhetoric, contrary to our general belief, is likely to prevent the public from coming into a state of environmental awareness and engaging in environmental activities.

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