The Dystopian Anthropocene: Form and Function of Environmental Crisis in The Parable of the Sower, New York 2140, and Clade
Authors
Mølgaard, Silke Wadskjær ; Haugaard, Magnus Møller
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2023
Submitted on
2023-05-30
Pages
124
Abstract
This thesis explores how dystopian climate fiction is changing and what it does for readers in the Anthropocene—the era in which human activity strongly shapes the planet. It responds to recent doubts about whether dystopian stories are still useful for representing climate change. Using econarratology—a method that links narrative techniques to ecological themes—the thesis analyzes Octavia E. Butler’s The Parable of the Sower, Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140, and James Bradley’s Clade. It reads these novels as ecodystopias and argues that combining ideas from critical dystopia and climate fiction offers a clearer way to describe their form and social function. The study also examines how rhetorical tropes and modes shape these stories. It highlights comic apocalyptic modes—not comedy, but narratives that move toward repair, reconciliation, and human agency—as especially effective for environmental communication. Across the three novels, the thesis finds increasing narrative experimentation and genre hybridization as ways to express Anthropocene anxieties. Their social role is expanding: beyond issuing warnings, they create spaces where readers can process uncertainty, the realities of a global risk society, and the vast spatial and temporal scales of climate change. By foregrounding human agency, reconciliation, and adaptation through comic apocalyptic rhetoric, these works show that dystopian climate fiction remains well suited to representing environmental crisis—even as its original cautionary purpose may give way to a broader role in helping us live with uncertainty.
Specialet undersøger, hvordan dystopisk klimafiktion udvikler sig, og hvilken rolle den spiller for læsere i Antropocæn—den tidsalder, hvor menneskelig aktivitet i høj grad former planeten. Det svarer på nyere tvivl om, hvorvidt dystopiske fortællinger stadig er nyttige til at skildre klimaforandringer. Med en econarratologisk tilgang—en metode, der forbinder fortælleteknikker med økologiske temaer—analyserer specialet Octavia E. Butlers The Parable of the Sower, Kim Stanley Robinsons New York 2140 og James Bradleys Clade. Det læser romanerne som økodystopier og argumenterer for, at en kombination af genrebegreber fra kritisk dystopi og klimafiktion giver et klarere sprog til at beskrive deres form og sociale funktion. Studiet ser også på, hvordan retoriske troper og modi præger disse fortællinger. Det fremhæver komiske apokalyptiske modi—ikke humor, men forløb, der bevæger sig mod reparation, forsoning og menneskelig handlekraft—som særligt egnede til miljøkommunikation. På tværs af de tre romaner finder specialet øget fortælleeksperiment og genrehybridisering som måder at udtrykke Antropocæns bekymringer på. Deres sociale rolle udvides: Ud over at advare skaber de rum, hvor læsere kan bearbejde usikkerhed, et globalt risikosamfund og klimaforandringers enorme rumlige og tidslige skalaer. Ved at fremhæve menneskelig handlekraft, forsoning og tilpasning gennem komisk apokalyptisk retorik viser disse værker, at dystopisk klimafiktion fortsat er velegnet til at skildre miljøkriser—selv om dens oprindelige advarselsformål gradvist kan afløses af en bredere funktion: at hjælpe os med at leve med usikkerhed.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords