Fire and snow : climate fiction from the inklings to Game of Thrones / Marc DiPaolo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Di Paolo, Marc, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fantasy fiction, English--History and criticism.

Fantasy fiction, English.

Science fiction, English--History and criticism.

Science fiction, English.

Fantasy fiction, American--History and criticism.

Fantasy fiction, American.

Science fiction, American--History and criticism.

Science fiction, American.

Climatic changes in literature.

Environmentalism in literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xiii, 333 pages ; 27 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2018]

Summary:

Fellow Inklings J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis may have belonged to different branches of Christianity, but they both made use of a faith-based environmentalist ethic to counter the mid-twentieth-century's triple threats of fascism, utilitarianism, and industrial capitalism. In Fire and Snow, Marc DiPaolo explores how the apocalyptic fantasy tropes and Christian environmental ethics of the Middle-earth and Narnia sagas have been adapted by a variety of recent writers and filmmakers of "climate fiction," a growing literary and cinematic genre that grapples with the real-world concerns of climate change, endless wars, and fascism, as well as the role religion plays in easing or escalating these apocalyptic-level crises. Among the many other well-known climate fiction narratives examined in these pages are Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, The Handmaid's Tale, Mad Max, and Doctor Who. Although the authors of these works stake out ideological territory that differs from Tolkien's and Lewis's, DiPaolo argues that they nevertheless mirror their predecessors' ecological concerns. The Christians, Jews, atheists, and agnostics who penned these works agree that we all need to put aside our cultural differences and transcend our personal, socioeconomic circumstances to work together to save the environment. Taken together, these works of climate fiction model various ways in which a deep ecological solidarity might be achieved across a broad ideological and cultural spectrum. This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to Knowledge Unlatched--an initiative that provides libraries and institutions with a centralized platform to support OA collections and from leading publishing houses and OA initiatives. Learn more at the Knowledge Unlatched website at: https://www.knowledgeunlatched.org/, and access the book online at the SUNY Open Access Repository at http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12648/7137 .

Contents:

Introduction. Reclaiming Enemy-Occupied Territory: Saving Middle-earth, Narnia, Westeros, Panem, Endor, and Gallifrey

Star Wars, Hollywood Blockbusters, and the Cultural Appropriation of J.R.R. Tolkien

Of Treebeard, C.S. Lewis, and the Aesthetics of Christian Environmentalism

The Time Lord, the Daleks, and the Wardrobe

Noah's Ark Revisited: 2012 and Magic Lifeboats for the Wealthy

Race and Disaster Capitalism in Parable of the Sower, The Strain, and Elysium

Eden Revisited: Ursula K. Le Guin, St. Francis, and the Ecofeminist Storytelling Model

MaddAddam and The Handmaid's Tale: Margaret Atwood and Dystopian Science Fiction as Current Events

Ur-Fascism and Populist Rebellions in Snowpiercer and Mad Max: Fury Road

Tolkien's Kind of Catholic: Suzanne Collins, Empathy, and The Hunger Games

The Cowboy and Indian Alliance: Collective Action Against Climate Change in A Song of Ice and Fire and Star Trek

What Next? Robert Crumb's "A Short History of America" and Ending the Game of Thrones

Epilogue. Who Owns the Legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438470450

1438470452

OCLC:

1006528326