ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ecocritical and ecopedagogical potential of literary figurations of the atmospheric, thereby seeking to elaborate on the role of literary teaching and learning in making accessible the otherwise invisible nature of concepts such as “atmosphere” and “climate change.” Drawing on approaches to the aesthetics of (literary) atmospheres as well as on established theories in the field of reader-response criticism, I will discuss the ethical and affective affordances of literature. In doing so, I will explore ways in which teachers of English in foreign language learning contexts can make productive use of the notions of relationality and ambivalence inscribed into atmospheric reading experiences. Which tasks are the most productive in making pre-GCSE pupils reflect on atmospheric appearances? What eco-ethical potential, if any, does the affective form of experience and learning as facilitated by literary reception hold? My paper will address these questions and provide some ideas on the teaching of literary atmospheres in the English foreign language-classroom.
