Images of the Anthropocene in Speculative Fiction

Sylwia Borowska-Szerszun is assistant professor in philology at the University of Bialystok.Tereza Dedinová is assistant professor in philology at Masaryk University.Weronika Laszkiewiczis assistant professor in philology at the University of Bialystok.

Focusing on a broad variety of texts under the umbrella term of speculative fiction, the collection of essays offers a stimulating insight into the complexity of the Anthropocene epoch. Subtle analyses of texts that range from Thoreau’s Walden to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series illuminate the productivity of ecocriticism in literary and cultural studies. The essays do not feed on partial themes and motives to claim cheap threats of climatic Apocalypse to come. Instead of mere warnings of the gloomy future, the book offers complexity, sophistication, and inspiration.

• The Anthropocene And Speculative Fiction: Introduction, Tereza Dedinová, Weronika Laszkiewicz, Sylwia Borowska-SzerszunPart I: Nature and Culture in the AnthropoceneChapter 1: “The Being That Can Be Told”: The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin as a Remedy for the Anthropocene, Tereza DedinováChapter 2: Young Adult Fantasy to Save the World? Retelling the Quest in Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle, Carrie SpencerChapter 3: The Forest as a Voice for Nature: Ecocriticism in Fantasy Literature, Britta Maria ColligsChapter 4: The Fantasy of Wilderness: Reconfiguring Heroism in the Anthropocene, Facing the Age of Ecocentrism, Lykke Guanio-UluruPart II: (Post)Apocalyptic World and the AnthropoceneChapter 5: Anthropocene vs Plague: Disastrous Diseases and their Impact on Society as Seen in Literature, from Thucydides to Modern Speculative Fiction, Jirí JelínekChapter 6: Fantasy, Myth, and the End of Humanity in M.R. Carey’s The Girl With All The Gifts, Maria QuigleyChapter 7: Beyond the Anthropocene: Human