Modernism and the Anthropocene

Reviews / Votes

Within the growing field of ecocritical modernist studies, examining literary modernism's relationship to the Anthropocene is a particularly urgent task. By theorizing twentieth-century modernisms as literatures of an 'emergent Anthropocene,' this book opens an important conversation about the extent to which modernist aesthetic practices-from experimental novels and poetics to sci-fi, comics, and popular science writing-anticipate current concerns about the scale of human impact on the planet, the entanglement of human with more-than-human agencies, and the discrepancy between phenomenological, historical, and planetary timescales. Representing a range of critical perspectives, the chapters offer thought-provoking starting points for further investigation. -- Anne Raine, University of Ottawa This important volume spotlights modernist engagement with the nonhuman world. Scholars and students conscious of their unraveling natural setting and strained social context are focusing on just these tensions. Modernism and the Anthropocene succeeds by mingling the ecological turn in modernist studies with the cultural-historical experience of the Anthropocene. The result is a timely contribution for literary scholars, environmental humanists, and students of our unfolding climate emergency. -- Jeffrey Mathes McCarthy, University of Utah At first glance, the terms "Modernism" and "Anthropocene" appear to be an unlikely and unpredictable pairing of two concepts that seem to be at odds. One is literary; the other is geological. But it is precisely this intriguing title that prompts further reading of the essay collection, Modernism and the Anthropocene: Material Ecologies of Twentieth-Century Literature, co-edited by Jon Hegglund and John McIntyre... [this] book is a conversation starter and an invitation to continue the conversation started by the editors, a conversation that should include Edith Wharton's oeuvre. The rusty green color of the cover is reminiscent of a long-forgotten toolbox that is begging to be opened and used. * Edith Wharton Review *