Exploring the Impact of Climate Change in Contemporary Fiction

Abstract

This paper explores the different ways in which climate change affects contemporary fiction. Authors show in their narratives that climate change represents a complete rearrangement of the world. The texts depict human devastation against the environmental background and become what I define as genuine dramas. The plots focus on the creative element within destruction in various ways. Questions already raised in eco-criticism, such as the relevance of anthropomorphism and comparison to the cultural representation of crisis, maybe reframed and resolved by examining literary texts. Historical events and future scenarios appear ambivalent in this regard, and often, both are evoked in the exact literary text, chapter, or sentence. The interest within contemporary fiction moves from discussing the individual feeling of vulnerability towards transformative literary practices. This eco-literary construction and the cultural interest in apocalyptic scenarios have two intriguing aspects: on the one hand, they endow literary creation with political authority and, on the other, reflect the genuine social concern with ecology.