Feeling Blue? Environmental Change and Emotional Responses by the Shore in Contemporary US Literature
Estelle Krewiss joined the Graduate School Practices of Literature as a PhD student in American Studies in October 2024. She is also a recipient of the DAAD Graduate School Scholarship.
Estelle’s research sits at the intersection of the Blue Humanities and Affect Theory in contemporary US literature. She examines the emotional responses the shore evokes amid environmental change, encompassing themes such as instability, kinship, grief, and resilience. By the shoreline, human and nonhuman vulnerabilities intersect—where ecosystems, species, bodies, and affects encounter one another through toxic flows, sea level rise, and other environmental crises. While Affective Ecocriticism often centers on relations that only come to light when lost—or are on the verge of being lost—such a focus risks overlooking what is alive. Incorporating the Blue Humanities into this field can offer a more nuanced emotional spectrum—one that not only illuminates but also reintegrates the shoreline’s emotional register. By emphasizing the shore’s own capacity for adaptability, literature invites imaginative and reflective strategies that can inspire action as well as more conscious and creative approaches to living with the sea.
Estelle holds an M.A. in English Literature from the Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle. Her master’s thesis was titled “Discovering Sea Sensibilities: An Ecofeminist and Blue Humanities Reading of Liz Clark’s Swell and Easkey Britton’s Saltwater in the Blood.” In the summer of 2023, Estelle completed an internship at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, where she contributed editorial work and event organization. This experience further deepened her passion for the Environmental Humanities.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Silvia Schultermandl