Cli-Fi: Environmental literature for the anthropocene

Abstract

In 2008, Dan Bloom coined the term “cli-fi;” since then, study of this genre has become increasingly popular. The appeal of examining fiction in terms of its focus on human-made climate change is unsurprising given our growing awareness of the ways that our actions are impacting the planet and given the increase in speculative fiction about the possible end results of unchecked human activity. In this essay, I analyse two very different novels that have been consistently characterised as cli-fi, Margaret Atwood’s 2003 Oryx and Crake and Ian McEwan’s 2010 Solar in terms of what they can teach us about climate change and how they might nudge us to different actions as well as the ways that both highlight the tensions between art and science.