Critical disaster fiction: Seveso and Bhopal in “Una lepre con la faccia di bambina” by Laura Conti and “Animal’s people” by Indra Sinha

Abstract

When an environmental disaster occurs, it can be described in many different manners. Through the lens of ecocriticism, this thesis examines two novels about two environmental disasters: the Seveso disaster (1976, Italy) and the Bhopal disaster (1984, Madhya Pradesh, India). The novels are Una lepre con la faccia di bambina (1978) by Laura Conti and Animal’s people (2007) by Indra Sinha. While the latter is a best-seller globally appreciated and translated, and the subject of numerous critical dissertations, the former is a less known work originally in Italian which received less critical attention. With this thesis, I intend to value both novels as examples of critical disaster fiction. The aim of this dissertation is to highlight how both these novels are particularly effective in providing a comprehensive understanding of the disaster. According to the core tenets of the discipline of critical disaster studies, a disaster should not considered as a singular event, but a process which unfolds over time. Additionally, both novels object of analysis invite the readers to engage in the comprehension of the experience of disaster in all its complexity, including the social repercussions, impacts on the environment, and animal representation.