In her masters thesis published in November 2025 at the University of Graz, Austria, Şeyma Yonar uses my short story The Way of Water, along with several others to explore and discuss the importance of eco-literature in establishing ecological awareness and ultimately ecological and sustainable action.

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Yonar draws on the work of Maria Löschnigg to argue that “as the environmental crisis encompasses not just physical challenges but also a crisis of imagination, posing questions about life in severely degraded environments, it becomes crucial to examine how literature can inspire interest in ecological issues and foster a deeper environmental awareness.” Yonar further draws on the works of Serpil Oppermann and Susan O’Brian to note that ecocriticism tends to neglect less conventional but equally meaningful speculative or experimental fiction in its critical gaze of relevant eco-literature and to question whether realism should be the dominant mode for ecological discourse.

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“The Way of Water is a strong eco-story that possesses many layers and elements that strengthen its narrative while encouraging readers to engage with its world…The notion what water constitutes the essence of life is the central theme of the story … Munteanu’s knowledge as a scientist enables her to create a convincing scientist protagonist whom she embeds into a powerful fictional story. Water, particularly in this eco-story acts not only as a symbolic entity but also as a body of force…the agency of water is presented as a dynamic, living entity, central to the narrative’s ecological themes.”

“Munteanu’s impactful storytelling highlights her significant contribution to Canadian literature, particularly through her engagement with pressing environmental issues and her commitment to fostering ecological awareness through fiction.”

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Yonar draws on the work of Serpil Oppermann, who points out in her book Blue Humanities, that water is deeply connected to social and cultural realities, and stories that highlight its narrative role are both essential and impactful. “Non-human-centred narratives reveal the dynamic and active nature of water, making its agency understandable and natural to the reader.”

Yonar quotes beginning lines of the short story to demonstrate how a powerful metaphor can become surprisingly literal: In this passage the main character Hilda thinks: water is a shape-shifter. It changes yet stays the same, shifting its face with the climate. It wanders the earth like a gypsy, stealing from where it is needed and giving whimsically where it isn’t wanted: “A statement,” Yonar writes, “that initially appears to be metaphorical rather than literal description of water. However, as the story expands, it becomes evident that this ‘shape-shifting’ feature is not an unrealistic trait, but rather a reflection of water’s dynamic and transformative nature.” She adds that, “this characterization of water points out its agency, suggesting its ability to adapt and influence the narrative in ways that transcend traditional understandings.”

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Yonar notes that intertextuality used in The Way of Water—such as wCard, iTap and Schrödinger’s Water is a useful way to “foreground notions of relationality, interconnectedness and interdependence in modern cultural life” (Graham Allen). Intertextuality in The Way of Water reflects capitalist industrialism: the monetization, commodification and control of water by national utilities represented by CanadaCorp: the “corporate dominance, digital dependence, and pervasive nature of technology.” Yonar adds pithily, “In a manner analogous to how Apple products have become indispensable instruments in contemporary existence, the iTap within Munteanu’s narrative operates as an emblem of hyper-connectivity and authority, thereby amplifying the novel’s critique of technological dependency in modern society.” Yonar ponders that the thought experiment of Schrödinger’s Cat, reimagined through the element of water as Schrödinger’s Water, “reframes the original paradox within an ecological and environmental context, emphasizing the fluidity and uncertainty of water’s role in shaping human and non-human existence.”

Yonar shares with Meyer and Oppermann “a unified perspective on the collaborative role of writers and scientists in addressing the shared challenge of climate change.” Yonar concludes that The Way of Water introduces a powerful human-made cooperation that is at the same time political, suppresses people, and takes advantage of the scarcity of water. Even “the rain belonged to CanadaCorp,” she quotes from The Way of Water.

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The Way of Water was first published as a bilingual print book by Mincione Edizioni (Rome) in Italian (La natura dell’acqua, translated by Fiorella Moscatello), and English along with a recounting of what inspired it: The Story of Water (La storia dell’acqua) in 2016. To date, The Way of Water has been published and republished eight times throughout the world and translated into Italian and German. I think this success is less a reflection of my writing than the immediacy and importance of the topic covered: growing water scarcity, its commodification, and its politicization.

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The Way of Water, in turn, inspired my dystopian novel A Diary in the Age of Water (Inanna Publications, 2020), which chronicles the lives of four generations of women and their relationship to water during a time of severe water restriction and calamitous climate change. The novel features the main character Hilda from The Way of Water and her limnologist mother; A Diary in the Age of Water is essentially the mother’s diary embedded in a larger story. Through a series of entries, the diarist reflects on the subtle though catastrophic occurrences that will eventually lead to humanity’s demise.

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References:

Löschnigg, Maria. 2014. “The Contemporary Canadian Short Story in English: Continuity and Change.” Cultures in America in Transition, vol. 7, WVT.

Munteanu, Nina. “The Way of Water” Mincione Edizioni, Rome. 113pp.

Munteanu, Nina. “A Diary in the Age of Water.” Inanna Publications, Toronto, ON. 328pp.

Meyer, Bruce. 2017. “Introduction to “Cli Fi: Canadian Tales of Climate Change“

Fi: Anthology #14. Edited by Bruce Meyer. Exile Editions, Toronto.304pp.

O’Brian, Susan. 2001. “Articulating a World of Difference: Ecocriticism, Post colonialism and Globalization.” Canadian Literature vol. 170-171: 140-158.

Oppermann, Serpil. 2023. “Blue Humanities.” Cambridge University Press.

Yonar, Şeyma. 2025. “Short Texts—Long Term Effects: The Canadian Eco-Story.” Masters Thesis, University of Graz, Austria. 70pp.

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