So I was thrilled to be invited by Dr Selin Sencan, Assistant Professor of English LIterature at Izmir Democracy University in Turkey, to hold a seminar: ‘Climate Change, Faith and Survival: A Conversation on The Well.” Dr Sencan has written about The Well for ‘Critique: studies in contemporary fiction’, published by Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2024.2411236 Her article, “Sacred Water: Neo-Spiritual Consumerism in Catherine Chanter’s The Well“, is a fascinating thesis, challenging readers to explore how capitalist frameworks exacerbate ecological vulnerabilities, and compels readers to “consider alternative worldviews and ethical frameworks for navigating a changing world” (abstract). As you can imagine, we had a lively discussion on spirituality, the role of religion in consideration of environmental degradation and other far reaching topics.
Online has many disadvantages, but to be able to engage live with readers and students from universities worldwide is invigorating for me, as an author, and allows me to dare to dream that writing still matters.
Earlier this year, a little while after the seminar I was privileged to receive a chapter written by Kadriye Tilbe, “Ecofeminist Analysis of Catherine Chanter’s Novel The Well: Rebirth of ‘The Mother Earth’, which was published in “Perilous Nature: The Resonance of Ecological Crisis in Contemporary Literature”, edited by Prof. Ayça Ülker Erkan. I was drawn into the way the chapter examines the search for Ruth’s identity, by Ruth herself, those around her, and the reader. “Throughout the novel, Ruth experiences almost all aspects of womanhood: mother, grandmother, wife, witch, saviour, and the chosen one. However, Ruth realizes that none of these roles fully represent her.” For me, Ruth is engaged in a perpetual struggle to define herself as a woman given the pre-ordained categories on offer. But I do like to feel that in the closing chapters she finds some resolution in her relationship with the earth, as Kadriye Tilbe implies.
It is not always easy being an academic in Turkey, or indeed publishing, so I am thrilled that Yapi Kredi Yayinlari have asked to renew their license for The Well this year. I hope to be able to continue engaging with my Turkishreaders and students; they have confirmed my faith that it is possible to write a book which is driven by a good plot, but which asks big questions.
