Climate Change and Environmental Concerns in Anglophone Fiction

Living in the Anthropocene means witnessing the consequences of human intervention on the environment daily. Catastrophic scenarios are occurring all around us: from destructive floods to massive fires, each year seems more extreme and unsettling than the last. Meanwhile, polluting and extractive practices continue unabated, inexorably altering landscapes and the natural assets of our planet.

Building on this general idea of climate doomism, this undergraduate seminar examines how climate change and environmental issues are depicted in twenty-first-century Anglophone fiction. Employing ecocriticism as the primary lens of analysis, students will engage in critical discussions concerning themes such as the current ecological crisis, environmental justice, climate activism, and the human-nature relationship. As the initial sessions of the course will be devoted to establishing a framework of reference for the topic, the course is particularly suited for beginners and students approaching ecocriticism for the first time.