“Climate Fiction and the Ethics of Survival in Modern English Novels”

Abstract

Climate change has been becoming a major theme of contemporary literary fantasy, with a growing literature emerging which is sometimes known as climate fiction Modern English novels abound with ecological crisis, the fall of the environment, and the ethical issues of survival in a world that is in decline. This essay discusses how the ethics of surviving in the case of climate catastrophe is reflected in the chosen modern English novels. It explores the conflict of the survival instinct of individuals and their moral duty to the community, re-definition of human-nature relations, and the political commentary shaped in these stories. The analysis of selected climate fiction novels provides the research with a major argument that contemporary English fiction does not merely depict the destruction of the environment but also challenges ideologies of ethics that guide the human reaction to crisis. The above novels end up suggesting that what will prevail in survival should rest on empathetic, responsible and ecologically conscious as opposed to dominance and exploitation.