Short abstract:

This paper will develop and explore the concept of aquagnosis through the lens of river flood narratives. It begins by situating gnosticism within the environmental humanities and their literary contexts. Then it will investigate the specific, weird form of aquagnostic poetics that can be applied to river floods narratives across different regions of the world, with a focus on how modern European river floods contribute to the broader gnostic traditions. Central to this discussion is an analysis of the river flood narrative in The Willows (1907) by Algernon Blackwood, a text that weirdly portrays the Danube River as a monstrous, animated being. This portrayal challenges the traditional anthropocentric perspectives and introduces a unique form of aquagnostic realism that lacks significant parallels in the heart of modern European culture.

The methodological approach involves close literary reading and interpretation by employing animistic categories and monstrous river poetics. As a result, the case study of The Willows has broader implications for understanding how river flood narratives contribute to our weird experience of environmental agency in the Anthropocene. In essence, this paper will situate the Danube’s monstrous narrative beyond the Europocentric constrains of modern knowledge.

Short bio:

Anna Barcz is an Associate Professor at the T. Manteuffel Institute of History (Spatial History Lab), Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) in Warsaw. She has held European fellowships, including the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at the Trinity Long Room Hub (Trinity College Dublin) and the Rachel Carson Center Fellowship at LMU Munich. She was trained as a philosopher and literary scholar at the University of Warsaw and the Institute of Literary Research (PAS). Her main research projects focus on rediscovering various cultural sources that influence environmental narratives, particularly those related to rivers such as the Odra/Oder (2016-2018), Vistula (2019-2023), and main European rivers (2024 – now). The results of her teams’ work have been published in key journals that contribute to the eco-debate and emphasize the humanities’ role in it (e.g. Environmental Hazards, Space and Culture, Water History, Secondary Texts, Environmental Humanities – forthcoming in 2025). She is also the author of three monographs: “Environmental Cultures in Soviet East Europe: Literature, History and Memory” (Bloomsbury 2021); “Animal Narratives and Culture: Vulnerable Realism” (CSP 2017); “Ecorealism: from Ecocriticism to Zoocriticism in Polish Literature” (in Polish, 2016). Publications in OA: pan-pl.academia.edu/AnnaBarcz

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This event is organized within the research group Environmental Humanities hosted by New Europe College.