Contemporary Naturalist Climate Fiction and Physical Injury

1 Mar 2024

Happening On 06/03/2024

Alan Gibbs - English department

3-4 pm Wednesday March 6

ORB (O'Rahilly Building) 2.12

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OGU5ZjZjMjgtOTNiMy00N2RiLTk5NTktZWM1NjA1Yzk2ZDNh%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2246fe5ca5-866f-4e42-92e9-ed8786245545%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%223af9abf8-2196-4189-bf72-6ceb71bbc7c0%22%7d

Given the overwhelming character of the climate crisis and its tendency to produce feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, it may be no surprise that the subject has become a key focus of contemporary American naturalism. This is a body of literature, after all, which places humankind in a starkly deterministic universe and has a tendency towards pessimism. This paper considers responses to the climate crisis in a range of contemporary American novels. How do these writers address such an overwhelmingly huge set of issues? What literary traditions are they drawing on? And why do so many of the characters in these books suffer physical injury?