Anthropocene entanglements: the novum, policy, and environment in science fiction by Wyndham, Atwood, and Liu
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Date
2020
Authors
Strong, Jeremy Ross
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Abstract
This dissertation argues that Darko Suvin’s proposed literary device unique to science fiction, “the novum”, is entangled with national state policy and environmental politics, and that up to now this has not been studied with sustained focus. I propose that the emergent sub-genre cli-fi is really just the distillation of ongoing concerns about the compounding problems of life in the Anthropocene that have long been present in much science fiction. By exploring the relationship between the novums of science fiction novels and national state policies the project reveals the unique perspectives the science fiction genre offers for addressing the Anthropocene.
I put forward the notion of the “national political imaginary” as a concept useful in understanding temporary landscapes of thought that include political discourse and artistic production alike. I argue that the novum helps reveal how the subtext and themes within the fiction and the social forces driving the policy are connected through an axis of environmental concern. The case studies span three distinct time periods in the UK, Canada, and China connecting geo-political, bio-cultural, and socio-political policies to novels by John Wyndham, Margaret Atwood, and Cixin Liu respectively.
Adopting a New Historicist approach, the chapters first explain the historical conditions and particular cultural and national elements that give rise to each policy, before undertaking close readings of the novels. The close readings explore the environmental subtext in the novels that is revealed through each novum’s function as a conduit to each respective national state policy. Ultimately finding the novum to have more significant political dimensions than previously theorized, and that it is resonant with Fredric Jameson’s theory of the political unconscious, the project serves as a bridge between policy studies and literary studies, potentially opening new dialogical possibilities for future scholars.
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Keywords
Environment, Policy, Science fiction, Novum, Space policy, Bioethics, Petroleum policy, New historicism, Anthropocene studies, China, UK, Canada, Political unconscious, Energy unconscious, Atwood, Wyndham, Liu Cixin