Ecocritical Theory and Practice Canine Death in Canonical American Fiction, (Hardcover)

<b><i>Canine Death in Canonical American Fiction</i> </b><b>investigates the presence of dogs in literature through an analysis of classic and popular novels. </b>The author interrogates the "man's best friend" trope and questions its validity by turning to fiction as a telling source of cultural attitudes towards animals and questions why dog death, specifically, is such a pervasive trope in literature. From sentimental tearjerkers like Fred Gipson's <i>Old Yeller</i> to canonical classics like Toni Morrison's <i>The Bluest Eye</i> and John Steinbeck's <i>The Grapes of Wrath</i>, this book examines the wealth of human-dog relations that the literary archive does not currently address and complicates prevalent assumptions of this relationship as inherently altruistic and symbiotic. Amelia Labenski argues that dogs carry a heavy symbolic weight in and outside of literature, where they often function as moral alibis or romantic stand-ins for our other, more explicitly harmful, relationships with animals. These arguments bring to bear a useful discussion about the role fiction can play in how we re-envision our relationships with animals of all kinds and the environment which we all share.

• Ecocritical Theory and Practice Canine Death in Canonical American Fiction, (Hardcover)
• Author: Bloomsbury Academic
• ISBN: 9781666980189
• Format: Hardcover
• Publication Date: 2026-10-29
• Page Count: 208