Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research 2/2019
Download the full issue as PDF
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Juha Raipola, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Esko Suoranta, Laura E. Goodin, & Dennis Wise
Editorial 2/2019
Download this article as PDF
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Prefatory
Juha Raipola
What is Speculative Climate Fiction?
Download this article as PDF
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Articles
Michael Fuchs
Vanishing Glaciers, the Becoming-Unextinct of Microorganisms, and Fathering a More-Than-Human World: Climate Change Horror in the Alps
Abstract: Marketed as Austria’s response to The Thing (1982), the horror- science fiction hybrid Blutgletscher (2013) depicts the re-emergence of seemingly extinct (or not known to have existed) microorganisms from thawing permafrost, which combine and recombine the genetic information of any lifeform they contact. As this article demonstrates, the Austrian film thus focuses on one of climate change’s many unintended effects, the longer-term consequences of which are unpredictable. The film’s transnational incorporation of The Thing adds to the effect, as it not only exposes the spatial and temporal flows in a globalised world but also scales up the viewer’s imagination in an attempt to represent humanity’s present and future in a climate-changed world. Indeed, this article suggests that Blutgletscher’s ending, in which the protagonist decides to raise a humanoid creature produced by the interaction between the microorganism and other lifeforms, imagines the end of humankind as it is known. Notably, this seemingly dark outlook conveys a cautious optimism about the prospect of a post-human future: life on Earth will continue; and some species carrying Homo sapiens’s genetic imprint will emerge from the ashes of human civilisation.
Keywords: Anthropocene; climate fiction; permafrost; science fiction; eco-horror; Austrian film.
Download this article as PDF
Sami Ahmad Khan
Dom(e)inating India’s Tomorrow(s)? Global Climate Change in Select Anglophonic Narratives
Abstract: Politics, technology, and nature constitute an inseparable triad in India’s fictional futures. This paper focuses on the deployment of technology – as the “dome” – and its relationship with environmental degradation and social marginalisation within select Indian English narratives. It ascertains how the dome responds, negotiates and/or precipitates otherisation and global climate change within an Indian context. Using the framework of Janet Fiskio’s “lifeboat” and “the collective” narratives, it compares the varying textual/contextual topographies of the dome in Leila (2017), Domechild (2013), and “Rain” (1993).
Keywords: Climate fiction, Indian science fiction, Domechild, Leila, Rain (short story), climate change, Dome.
Download this article as PDF
Essi Vatilo
Climate Change in a Chromium World: Estrangement and Denial in Ted Chiang’s “Exhalation”
Abstract: This article discusses Ted Chiang’s “Exhalation” as a story of climate change with the potential to resist polarisation of attitude and different forms of denial. Through the lenses of naturalisation and world reduction the story can be seen to recontextualise climate change. As the mechanical inhabitants of the chromium world of the story contemplate their role as agents of their own demise, the story addresses the material and psychological impact of climate change. The process of naturalisation and the resultant estrangement disentangle climate change from real-world politics and polarised attitudes, while at the same time drawing attention to them. World reduction simplifies the science and politics of climate change, and thereby undermines the reasoning behind different levels of denial.
Keywords: Ted Chiang, climate fiction, estrangement, world reduction, climate change, denial, responsibility
Download this article as PDF
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Conference Reports
Jani Ylönen
Worldcon 77 Academic Track
Download this article as PDF
Laura op de Beke
Forming the Future
Download this article as PDF
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Book Reviews
Janice M. Bogstad
Book Review: Iain M. Banks
Download this article as PDF
Gregory Conley
Book Review: Frankenstein and Its Classics: The Modern Prometheus from Antiquity to Science Fiction
Download this article as PDF
Andoni Cossío
Book Review: Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth
Download this article as PDF
Mick Howard
Book Review: Being Bionic: The World of TV Cyborgs
Download this article as PDF
Don Riggs
Book Review: Medievalism in A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones
Download this article as PDF
Paul Williams
Book Review: Fantasy Literature and Christianity: A Study of the Mistborn, Coldfire, Fionavar Tapestry and Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Series
Download this article as PDF
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Call for Papers: Fafnir 2/2020
Download this article as PDF