This collection explores the stakes of a world in transition through coining a new word zoetropisms, bringing together "tropism" from the field of biology and "zoe" to evoke the philosophical Aristotelian tradition. By implementing an interdisciplinary dialogue between science, philosophy, literature, and the arts, the book aims to highlight the potential of the creative imagination in shifting perceptions about the life continuum of which humans are part. It takes stock, both critically and artistically, of the current reconceptions of modes of understanding the world and of being in the world. In order to do so, it gathers together contributions calling on major theorists of new material and posthuman feminism, such as Donna Haraway, Jane Bennett, Rosi Braidotti, Elizabeth Grosz, or Stacy Alaimo, to provide both a panorama of ecofeminist critical theory and close readings of contemporary works, among which short and long fiction, poetry, and experimental writing. To illustrate the present-day alterations to anthropocentric representation, it explores a variety of metamorphoses: Becoming-Minor, Becoming-Venomous, Becoming-Insect, Becoming-Night, Becoming-Ekphrastic, in other words queering the human.

Emilie Walezak is Professor of Contemporary British Literature, Nantes Université, France.