Moves away from traditional literary criticism, which has been marked by the tendency to disregard the ubiquitous animal presence in literary texts, or shown determination to read animals simply as metaphors and symbols for something else
Explores zoopoetics both as an object of study (the texts themselves) and as a method for studying literature, which is therefore transferable to other contexts
Focuses primarily on non-Anglophone literature, broadening the scope and reach of the work, and is the first comprehensive, comparative, transnational exploration and definition of zoopoetics