Araştırma Makalesi

NATURE UNDER SIEGE: THE ENVIRONMENTAL TOLL OF INDUSTRIALISATION IN GASKELL’S NORTH AND SOUTH AND ZOLA’S GERMINAL

Cilt: 13 Sayı: 25 20 Mart 2025
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NATURE UNDER SIEGE: THE ENVIRONMENTAL TOLL OF INDUSTRIALISATION IN GASKELL’S NORTH AND SOUTH AND ZOLA’S GERMINAL

Abstract

The epochal conflict between nature and humanity is the struggle for survival and coexistence despite all the clashes that shape human life. As humans have pushed the limits of boundaries of progress, nature has responded in its own unique and unpredictable ways, reminding us of its power and the costs of this skirmish. As we seek to harness natural resources for growth and development, nature has often manifested itself in disasters, climate change, and ecological collapse. Current paper explores the complex dynamics of this confrontation, focusing on the relation between industrialisation and its impact on humans and nature in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (1855) and Émile Zola’s Germinal (1885). Both novels provide strong criticisms of how industrial progress harms rural communities and nature. Gaskell and Zola reflect the deep disruption of traditional lifestyles for people separated from nature, experiencing both environmental destruction and exploitation in industrial labour conditions. By analysing these 19th-century works, this study draws parallels between the industrialisation and the ecological challenges, arguing that the environmental and social degradation depicted by Gaskell and Zola continues in contemporary debates on sustainability and environmental justice.

Keywords

Kaynakça

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Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

İngiliz ve İrlanda Dili, Edebiyatı ve Kültürü

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yayımlanma Tarihi

20 Mart 2025

Gönderilme Tarihi

5 Kasım 2024

Kabul Tarihi

4 Aralık 2024

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2025 Cilt: 13 Sayı: 25

Kaynak Göster

APA
Bolat, E. (2025). NATURE UNDER SIEGE: THE ENVIRONMENTAL TOLL OF INDUSTRIALISATION IN GASKELL’S NORTH AND SOUTH AND ZOLA’S GERMINAL. HUMANITAS - Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 13(25), 107-119. https://doi.org/10.20304/humanitas.1579725