Ethics of Life: Contemporary Iberian Debates ed. by Katarzyna Beilin and William Viestenz (review)

Ethics of Life: Contemporary Iberian Debates is an impressive multidisciplinary collection of fifteen insightful essays that converge on the unifying themes of increased public environmental consciousness, emergence of biotechnologies, and consideration of human and nonhuman species as deserving of rights. The introduction describes each essay enabling readers to focus on specific areas of interest. Its seventeen contributors are scholars Eugenia Afinoguénova, Daniel Ares López, Paul Begin, Katarzyna Beilin, John Beusterien, Sebastiaan Faber, Matthew Feinberg, Carmen Flys-Junquera, Susan Larson, Martín López-Vega, Pablo de Lora, Luis Martín-Estudillo, Luis I. Prádanos, Tonia Raquejo, Sainath Suryanarayanan, John H. Trevathan, and William Viestenz. The collection is tailored for the general public, with a few exceptions indicated below. For those interested in ecocriticism in Spain, the first essay provides a wealth of reference information through its thirty-page illustrated overview of environmentally oriented Spanish literature and fine arts from the last decade. This essay also contributes a useful comparison between the growing interest for environmental studies in Spain and the timid beginnings of the environmental Spanish literary and artistic movement. Further research could pinpoint reasons for the lethargic development of the environmental Spanish literary and artistic movement or indicate particular areas of growth for the future of the movement.

The second essay examines two divergent accounts concerning the spill of the Prestige oil tanker in 2002 across the Galician coast. While official accounts often diminish the consequences of the spill, the essay explores dialogical responses that expose ecological fissures of the official narrative and offer a new articulation of Galician self as a collective of human and nonhuman living beings.

The third essay presents considerable research on how the concept “quality of life” has been historically used to secure political and economic power in Spain, and identifies tourism in Spain as an industry frequently used as an excuse for the implementation of neoliberal policies that include unfair taxation and redistribution of land. Concurrently, the fourth essay is an ecocritical analysis that interprets Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film Biutiful (2010) and Agustín Fernández Mallo’s novelistic trilogy Nocilla (2006–2009) as virtual travels through an Anthropocene era in crisis. This fourth essay will prove beneficial for those interested in recent environmental criticism because of its use of twentieth-first century concepts such as dark ecology and hyperobjects, as well as concepts from the twentieth century such as disquieting realism and black humor. No prior knowledge of the works is needed as the essay provides a synopsis for each of the analyzed works.

A succinct study on contemporary trends in urban ecology, the fifth essay focuses on two examples of abandoned city lots reclaimed as sites for new urban landscapes. A fitting complement to this essay could be the addition of examples of public spaces reclaimed as public parks. Nonetheless, the essay supplies an enriching discussion on recycling spaces and development of sustainable environments for readers interested in urban ecology. A captivating read, the sixth essay makes a compelling case for a socially equitable and environmentally conscious economy based on degrowth theory as an alternative to the neoliberal model of global capitalism. Because of its specialized terminology such as postcolonial socioecology and trans-corporeality, the essay will prove useful for scholars interested in relevant non-fictional ecocriticism.

Using a historical approach, the seventh essay briefly traces Spain’s evolution from hostility toward practices such as abortion to becoming a liberal country for medically assisted reproduction and gives a valuable background for current issues affecting Spanish society in regard to reproductive rights. The eighth essay is a film analysis of Mar adentro (2004) and Tapas (2005), and focuses on the topic of assisted suicide. The author approaches this subject from an eclectic perspective and shares an enriching insight into the validity of assisted suicide in Spanish society.

Through a historicist approach, the ninth essay successfully argues that the political and...