When Everything Is Up for Grabs: Enviro...

The essay offers an econarratological analysis of Percival Everett’s novella Grand Canyon, Inc., paying particular attention to the text’s postmodern elements. Ecocritics have often privileged sincere and realist storytelling, arguing that a dedication to authentic detail and life-like characters are best suited to instill in readers awareness and affective attachment to the depicted environment. There is very little realism in Everett’s postmodern satire, and yet it cues strong emotional responses in readers that may easily lead to moral outrage at attitudes and practices in the extra-textual world. Nicole Seymour has suggested that rather than hindering critical engagement, non-serious modes of narration can foster a self-critical attitudes in readers. The essay demonstrates how such fostering takes places in Grand Canyon, Inc. and suggest that Everett’s brisk satire amounts to a scathing critique of environmental narcissism.