This presentation will examine a number of questions concerning how short fiction presents Climate Change and what impact Cli-Fi stories may have on contemporary readers.
Since Climate Change involves a (relatively) slow progression, it is not easy to see effects on a day-to-day basis. Science fiction, by projecting decades into the future, can convey the impact to a present-day audience in a potentially profound way. One set of questions involve whether reading stories about the deterioration of the planet can have a significant enough impact to change our behavior on a large scale. (Have readers already made up their minds before they begin reading? Can a short story change readers’ minds? Are authors intent on changing minds?)
Another question involves how the future is presented. Do dark apocalyptic stories such as “Diary of an Interesting Year” by Helen Simpson, set in a 2040 where all social constructs have broken down and “Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet” by Margaret Atwood, set, obviously, after humans have become extinct, have more or less impact than stories that depict dark, difficult, but not catastrophic future times? Short stories in the latter category include “The Tamarisk Hunter” by Paolo Bacigalupi and “Hold Dear the Lamp Light: Before the Tides Rose Up” by Jay Dayrit. (The first three stories come from I’m With The Bears: Short Stories From A Damaged Planet while the last was published in Wired magazine.)
Some of the discussion of responses to the short stories is based upon in-class sessions with and journal entries from undergraduates in a large, co-taught course on Climate Change that looked at scientific, policy, geoengineering and ethical issues as well as short fiction.
About the presenterJonathan G Ripley
Dr. Jonathan Ripley is a Professor of Literature and Philosophy at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He has a Ph.D. in Modern American Literature from St. John’s University, a M.Ph.in Modern American Literature from St. John’s University; an M.A.in Modern British and American Literature from Adelphi University; and a B.A.in Philosophy from the University of Rochester.