Climate Crisis and the 21st-Century British Novel

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This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. The challenge of rapid climate change is forcing us to rethink traditional attitudes to nature. This book is the first study to chart these changing attitudes in 21st-century British fiction. Climate Crisis and the 21st-Century British Novel examines twelve works that reflect growing cultural awareness of climate crisis and participate in the reshaping of the stories that surround it. Central to this renegotiation are four narratives: environmental collapse, pastoral, urban and polar. Bringing ecocriticism into dialogue with narratology and a new body of contemporary writing, Astrid Bracke explores a wide range of texts, from Zadie Smiths NW through Sarah Hall's The Carhullan Army and David Mitchells Cloud Atlas to the work of a new generation of novelists such as Melissa Harrison and Ross Raisin. As the book shows, post-millennial fictions provide the imaginative space in which to rethink the stories we tell about ourselves and the natural world in a time of crisis.

Reviews

An exceptional study of the narratives that comprise, critique, and reimagine climate crisis. * The Year's Work in English Studies *
[Bracke selects] undoubtedly excellent examples of fiction ... Brackes text admirably fulfils its aims in illuminating the pervasive effect of the ecological crisis narrative upon the post-millennial British novel. * Modern Language Review *
In this clearly written and thoughtfully positioned book, Astrid Brackes alert and critical discussion extends beyond her incisive analysis of novels to consider the evolving ability of narrative itself to engage with the climate crisis of our times. * Terry Gifford, Visiting Researcher, Environmental Humanities Research Centre, Bath Spa University, UK *
In a thoroughly readable and intelligent analysis, Bracke shows how 21st-century narratives work both to accommodate a growing sense of climate crisis and, conversely, to shape our responses to it. * Adeline Johns-Putra, Reader in English Literature, University of Surrey, UK *
Combining ecocriticism and narratology with aplomb, Climate Crisis offers deep insights into recent literary renderings of our changing world with a focus on the human imaginings of the impossibly vast planetary scales and geological time of climate change. Bracke's research is a major contribution to cli-fi analyses in ecocriticism. * Heather Sullivan, Professor of German and Comparative Literature, Trinity University, USA *

Author Bio

Astrid Bracke is Lecturer in English Literature at HAN University of Applied Sciences (Nijmegen, The Netherlands). She regularly publishes on ecocriticism and contemporary literature on www.AstridBracke.com