Environmental Parataxis. Writing Hyperabject Patterns of Death in the Web of Life in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2026.17.1.5693

Keywords:

environmental parataxis, Rachel Carson, the hyperabject, toxic waste

Abstract

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is often credited with starting the modern environmental movement. This article turns to a specific stylistic element employed throughout this book: parataxis. This figure can usefully foreground the hyperabject – contemporary infrastructures of waste – as it weaves together the sprawl of nature and the spread of toxic chemicals. The article presents parataxis as a useful tool for environmental communicators and how Carson used it in the struggle against pesticides. The article also cautions authors employing environmental parataxis against overlooking the inequalities of toxic contamination in paratactical compositions where words and phrases are ordered non-hierarchically.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Frederik Appel Olsen, University of Copenhagen

Frederik Appel Olsen is PhD in rhetoric from the Department of Communication at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark where he currently works as a lecturer. His work centers on the intersection of science, activism, and the climate and ecological crisis.

Downloads

Published

2026-10-31

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2026): Eco-Crip Cultures: Disability and the Environment

Section

Articles: General Section

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal (CC BY-NC for articles and CC BY-NC-ND for creative work, unless author requests otherwise.

b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

c) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).