Narrative Forms in the Age of the Anthropocene: Negotiating Human-Nonhuman Relations in Global South Novels
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Birgit Neumann
Abstract
The essay proceeds from the assumption that the changes ushered in by the age of the Anthropocene pose a representational challenge to literature and put pressure on narrative forms. It argues that narrative literature, especially texts from the so-called Global South, creatively respond to these changes by modelling narrative forms that afford new, sustainable ways of approaching our planet. These forms express the interdependences that govern relations between humans and nonhumans and widen the scope of human history toward multispecies ecologies. A close reading of the 2013 novel Dust by Kenyan author Yvonne Owuor analyses narrative forms that engage with the changed political, economic, and ecological demands of the Anthropocene. Lastly, the essay identifies challenges these narrative forms pose to classical narratology, focusing on representations of time, events, and space.
Abstract
The essay proceeds from the assumption that the changes ushered in by the age of the Anthropocene pose a representational challenge to literature and put pressure on narrative forms. It argues that narrative literature, especially texts from the so-called Global South, creatively respond to these changes by modelling narrative forms that afford new, sustainable ways of approaching our planet. These forms express the interdependences that govern relations between humans and nonhumans and widen the scope of human history toward multispecies ecologies. A close reading of the 2013 novel Dust by Kenyan author Yvonne Owuor analyses narrative forms that engage with the changed political, economic, and ecological demands of the Anthropocene. Lastly, the essay identifies challenges these narrative forms pose to classical narratology, focusing on representations of time, events, and space.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- A Tale of Two Concepts: Ansgar Nünning at Sixty 1
- Stories of Dangerous Life in the Post- Trauma Age: Toward a Cultural Narratology of Resilience 15
- Mind the Narratives: Towards a Cultural Narratology of Attention 37
- The End of the World (as We Know It)? – Cultural Ways of Worldmaking in Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Narratives 57
- Plumbing Distant Spatiotemporal Scales: Towards an Econarratology of Planetary Memory in Narratives of the Global South 75
- Narrative Forms in the Age of the Anthropocene: Negotiating Human-Nonhuman Relations in Global South Novels 91
- Fact, Fiction, and Everything in-between: Strategies of Reader Activation in Postcolonial Graphic Narratives 109
- ‘It’s Not Our Opinion, It’s the Opinion of Our Roles’ – Fremdverstehen Revisited or: Where Foreign Language Education and Narratology Can Meet 129
- Narrative and Visual Resources of Culture in Contemporary Indigenous Children’s Books from Australia 149
- Troubling Justice: Narratives of Revenge 165
- Erin Burnett in Mali: Bardic Television and the Genealogy of Cultural Narratology 185
- New Media Narratives: Olivia Sudjic’s Sympathy and Identity in the Digital Age 199
- The ‘Death’ of the Unreliable Narrator: Toward a Functional History of Narrative Unreliability 215
- Odyssean Travels: The Migration of Narrative Form (Homer – Lamb – Joyce) 241
- A European Storyteller? Collective Narration in John Berger’s Into Their Labours 269
- Brexit as Cultural Performance: Towards a Narratology of Social Drama 293
- Contributors 321
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- A Tale of Two Concepts: Ansgar Nünning at Sixty 1
- Stories of Dangerous Life in the Post- Trauma Age: Toward a Cultural Narratology of Resilience 15
- Mind the Narratives: Towards a Cultural Narratology of Attention 37
- The End of the World (as We Know It)? – Cultural Ways of Worldmaking in Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Narratives 57
- Plumbing Distant Spatiotemporal Scales: Towards an Econarratology of Planetary Memory in Narratives of the Global South 75
- Narrative Forms in the Age of the Anthropocene: Negotiating Human-Nonhuman Relations in Global South Novels 91
- Fact, Fiction, and Everything in-between: Strategies of Reader Activation in Postcolonial Graphic Narratives 109
- ‘It’s Not Our Opinion, It’s the Opinion of Our Roles’ – Fremdverstehen Revisited or: Where Foreign Language Education and Narratology Can Meet 129
- Narrative and Visual Resources of Culture in Contemporary Indigenous Children’s Books from Australia 149
- Troubling Justice: Narratives of Revenge 165
- Erin Burnett in Mali: Bardic Television and the Genealogy of Cultural Narratology 185
- New Media Narratives: Olivia Sudjic’s Sympathy and Identity in the Digital Age 199
- The ‘Death’ of the Unreliable Narrator: Toward a Functional History of Narrative Unreliability 215
- Odyssean Travels: The Migration of Narrative Form (Homer – Lamb – Joyce) 241
- A European Storyteller? Collective Narration in John Berger’s Into Their Labours 269
- Brexit as Cultural Performance: Towards a Narratology of Social Drama 293
- Contributors 321
