From Anthropocentrism to Ecocentrism: Ecocritical Readings of Peter Wohlleben's The Hidden Life of Trees

Abstract

This study challenges readers' traditional notion of Anthropocene and encourages them to perceive nature as a hidden living community. Peter Wohlleben is a German forester and environmentalist; his The Hidden Life of Trees (2016) is a work of environmental non-fiction. This study has utilized on the principles of Cheryll Glotfelty and Vandana Shiva's concept of ecocriticism supports to reveal the secrets of the natural world. The theoretical principle goes side by side to study the relationship between literature and physical world that argues patriarchal and capitalist systems dominate both women and the environment by treating them as objects for profit and exploitation. Qualitative textual analysis utilized, by applying close reading and analyses the text with its thematic idea; the major novelty of this study is redefining the relationship from ethical responsibility towards forests in the Anthropocene age. Trees present nature as an interconnected living community instead a passive resource.