Tracing Ecocritical Consciousness in Temsula Ao’s Laburnum for My Head

Abstract

Nature is a perennial source of inspiration for creative imagination. Its entire ecosystem is so embedded in human mind that no literary or any other form of creative art can be produced without its semblance. However, in the wake of scientific and technological advancement with talks of environmental hazard, writers have started expressing more openly the need of conservation and existence of clean nature. Temsula Ao, a writer coming from the north-east of India, is a unique voice as a writer of nature. She is writer with immense ecocritical conscious and in her collection of short stories Laburnum for My Head, nature is present as a character. To her stories, nature is the same as Malgudi is to R.K. Narayan’s writings. In her collection of short stories, she explores the geopolitical and social contexts of Nagaland to understand the interplay between environmental and human conflicts.