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The "Fantastic Climates" conference asks how the climate crisis is reflected in literature, films, series and games
The earth is in a bad way, it is heating up more and more. The consequences are devastating: destructive forest fires, storms, droughts, diseases, floods, melting glaciers and permafrost have long been the order of the day on a global scale. There is no question that the present is dark, the prospects are poor and the apocalyptic future is actually already here. Melina Heinrichs, Ann-Christine Herbold, Maria Hornisch and Dr. Murat Sezi are not exactly optimistic when they think about our planet either.
The four of them (Sezi is a research assistant, the others are lecturers at the Institute of English and American Studies) are organizing the 15th annual conference of the Society for Fantastic Research. The interdisciplinary Climate Thinking working group at the Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies is associated. "The climate crisis has long since arrived in fictional literature," explains Sezi. The topic is therefore an obvious one, not least at the University of Kassel, which sees itself as a sustainability university. "Fantastic Climates" is the title of the public conference, which will take place from September 5 to 7 and will be attended by around 60 academics from all over the world to ask how climate change, the threat of apocalypse and positive utopias are reflected in narrative literature and other media. What forms and characteristics are there? Which narrative strategies are pursued? Which genres play a role? The range is wide. Whether horror, science fiction, fantasy or comics, everything can be examined: from works that are located in the utopian-dystopian tradition to texts with a socialist or communist flavor that deal with political change.
Who are the readers of these books? It all depends, says Ann-Christine Herbold: "There are classic works that only address environmental destruction in passing, such as Andrzej Sapkowski's 'Witcher' saga. Others, such as Margaret Atwood's, Paolo Bacigalupi's or Frank Schätzing's novels, focus directly on climate change and environmental destruction. Depending on your interests or preferences, you will reach for one or the other."
And the effect? Is it conceivable that reading climate novels influences behavior? Murat Sezi: "I have serious doubts about that. Unfortunately, the human ability to repress is a major problem." Nevertheless, literature can provide cautionary examples, show perspectives and enable effects. So it's time for scientific stocktaking and analysis.
Image: Andreas Gebhardt"Earthquakes in London" by Mike Bartlett, because the drama shows in a spectacular way how we as a Western society talk about climate change and how the absurdity of our hope for salvation and simultaneous repression of the issue is a real head-scratcher.
Image: Andreas GebhardtAnn Christine Herbold recommends "The Living Sea of Waking Dreams" by Richard Flanagan because the novel artfully interweaves different levels of loss in the context of the climate crisis. While Flanagan's characters are caught between apathy, grief and self-righteousness, the novel raises the question of how we emotionally deal with the crisis and our (in)ability to mourn it.
Image: Andreas GebhardtMaria Hornisch recommends "The Southern Reach Trilogy" by Jeff Vander-Meer because he uses the uncanny, supernatural and terrifying to mediate climate-related fears: Words made of plants, written on the wall of a living tower by a creature that pushes the boundaries of human perception; humans become plants, animals or entire ecosystems.
Image: Andreas GebhardtDr. Murat Sezi recommends "The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi because this novel simply has it all: intelligent criticism of capitalism and globalization, an understanding of the centrality of energy to our economic system and the dilemmas that arise from competing interests in functionally differentiated societies, and much, much more.
This article appeared in the university magazine publik 2024/2. Text: Andreas Gebhardt