%0 Journal Article %A Prádanos, Luis I. %T Toward a Euro-Mediterranean socioenvironmental perspective: the case for a Spanish ecocriticism %D 2013 %@ 2171-9594 %U http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20188 %X This essay analyzes two ecological movements that emerged and developed in Southern European Mediterranean countries (France, Italy, and Spain) during the last couple of decades. Both the de-growth and the “slow” movement challenge the “illogical logic” of constant economic growth in the context of a limited biosphere and denounce the social and ecological degradation generated by global capitalism. Both articulate a redefinition of European environmentalism by opposing the environmental thinking of strong Euro-American tradition—very rooted in the official discourse of the European Union, such as the “gospel of eco-efficiency” (Martínez Alier, El Ecologismo 31)—that try to solve the ecological problems with the same logic that causes and perpetuates them (green capitalism, sustainable development). The de-growth and the slow movement propose instead sustainable, systemic alternatives which are socially and ecologically possible. These alternatives are based on conviviality, voluntary simplicity, slowness, and the reduction of the socioeconomic metabolism. They point out the necessity of an epistemological change and question the tyranny of industrial time (to augment constantly the production and consumption pace) to conclude that we can and need to live better with less, since it is more desirable, sustainable, and just. Since the 2008 financial crisis the de-growth and slow movement have acquired certain popularity and visibility beyond their Euro-Mediterranean context, which makes them relevant actors on the global movement for environmental justice and the critique of global capitalism. Finally, this essay explores one of the many ways in which these Euro-Mediterranean socioenvironmental insights can be translated into ecocriticism in the specific case of recent Spanish novels. In the last decade, there have been a number of Spanish novels that use complex and sophisticated narrative strategies to focus on aspects related to neoliberal globalization. While some of them perpetuate the mainstream discourse of the European Union by privileging the uncritical celebration of digital culture, progress, and globalization, others challenge this by questioning our society’s blind faith in technological progress and economic growth—such texts advocate instead for a change of logic and lifestyle. The latter narratives seem to be more in-tune with the Euro-Mediterranean socioenvironmental movements mentioned previously and are therefore able to articulate a meaningful critique of the myths of progress, development, and economic growth by exposing the ecological and social degradation that is often generated by global capitalism. On the contrary, the kind of novel that reproduces mainstream European discourse—and, more importantly, the critics that celebrate it—tends to overtly and abundantly represent digital culture while failing to acknowledge its relation to the culture of new capitalism and its environmental and social impact. %K Euro-Mediterranean ecocriticism %K Recent Spanish novels %K De-growth %K Decrecimiento %K Novela española reciente %K Ecocrítica euromediterránea %K Literatura %K Literature %K Medio ambiente %K Environmental science %~ Biblioteca Universidad de Alcala