Abstract

This article examines new landscapes as found in recent narratives that focus on other-than-human characters and, more specifically, on literary animal landscapes and animals in literary landscapes. It also ponders the role of literature, at a time of progressive disappearance of species from the planet due to human activity, in addressing the possible ways of reconnecting with other-than-human beings. Human activity has been lethal to animals for centuries, and since it has been produced mainly by Western values and practices, examples here come mostly from Western literature. The discussion includes neither fictional animals used as allegories for human behavior nor those used to tell sympathetic stories of companion species, such as dogs, horses, or parrots, featuring an anthropocentric type of storytelling, influencing the reader’s emotional response to the human characters found in them.