Title: The “Planetary Turn” in Literary Studies: Conceptual Framework and Critical Practices

Abstract: Planetarity, planetary scale, and planetary thinking have emerged in recent years as new paradigms in literary studies. The “planetary turn” in literary studies challenges both Western-centrism and anthropocentrism. It entails an expanded spatial awareness, an engagement with deep time, and a renewed attention to the earth’s material and ecological entanglements. The value and significance of the planetary turn in literary studies are reflected in three major aspects: (1) rethinking the framework of modernization studies from a planetary perspective, thereby recovering diverse modernities and literary modernism historically marginalized by Euro-American narratives and contributing to the richness of world literature; (2) analyzing literary representations of planetary processes such as climate change, deep time, and ecological crisis; and (3) examining the planetary ethics of literature, demonstrating literature’s distinctive role and responsibility in fostering a community with a shared future for humankind and an ecological community in the era of the Anthropocene.

Keywords: Anthropocene, planetary turn, literary geography, ecocriticism, world literature

Authors: Ying Liu, Professor, School of Foreign Studies, Nankai University, Tianjin, China; Yangyang Wang, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Foreign Studies, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2025.04.001