Eco detective, Kinship and Multispecies harmony in Rohan Chakravarty’s Naturalist Ruddy: Adventurer. Sleuth. Mongoose

Abstract

The research paper sheds light on the role of the eco detective in the work of non-fiction, Rohan Chakravarty’s Naturalist Ruddy: Adventurer. Sleuth. Mongoose. The eco detective, Ruddy plays a pivotal role in educating young readers about the ecology and the more than human inhabitants of the ecology. The paper aims to unravel the artistic attempt of bringing out the eco noir of species endangerment in the age of the anthropocene through graphic panels, comic strips, engaging eco mysteries and humour. Its impact in the young readers is traced through its attempt in deconstructing anthropocentric ideologies and promoting kinship and multispecies coexistence. The text is also analysed as a medium that not only imparts ecological knowledge but also aids young readers in contributing to biodiversity conservation through positive action. The portrayal of the more than human species with agency, intellect and as beings that are co-agential in the narrative of life in the planet dismantles the anthropocentric hierarchy of species stratification and paves way for biocentrism.

The depiction of environmental themes in children’s literature has mostly been restricted to genres such as comics, picture books, short stories, and other forms of fictions. Fictional representations have been popularised especially in portraying animals, forests and more than human entities due to their ability to derive humour through anthropomorphic treatment of the non-human characters. Despite fictional representations receiving vivid attention from critics and readers it has also endured “the dismay of biologists who feel that endowing animals with human emotions and motives presents misguiding pictures of such creatures and may lead children to false impressions and expectations of real life animals” like the“Bambi syndrome” (Vogl 68). In the discourse of environmental literature for children lies two essential contradictions: firstly, literary representations are expected to preserve the ecological truth without yielding to features that make fictions entertaining and engaging, secondly, to produce literary representations that are engaging, entertaining and promote kinship through humour.