“From a certain angle”: Ecothriller Reading and Science Fiction Reading The Swarm and The Rapture
Read as apocalyptic ecothrillers, Frank Schätzing’s The Swarm and Liz Jensen’sThe Rapture do not offer much in the way of critical reflection on the ecocatastrophesthey stage. The Swarm’s focus on the feat of confronting the violent efforts of asuperintelligent, deep-sea species to protect its ocean...
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European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and the Environment; Universidad de Alcalá de Henares
2012
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:58f8cb65a31242829b1bd91c8efd06ea 2023-05-15T17:12:03+02:00 “From a certain angle”: Ecothriller Reading and Science Fiction Reading The Swarm and The Rapture Eric C. Otto 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doaj.org/article/58f8cb65a31242829b1bd91c8efd06ea DE EN ES FR IT ger eng spa fre ita European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and the Environment; Universidad de Alcalá de Henares http://www.ecozona.eu/index.php/journal/article/view/270/616 https://doaj.org/toc/2171-9594 2171-9594 https://doaj.org/article/58f8cb65a31242829b1bd91c8efd06ea Ecozon@, Vol 3, Iss 2, Pp 106-121 (2012) Ecothrillers Science Fiction Extrapolation The Swarm The Rapture Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2012 ftdoajarticles 2022-12-31T12:44:22Z Read as apocalyptic ecothrillers, Frank Schätzing’s The Swarm and Liz Jensen’sThe Rapture do not offer much in the way of critical reflection on the ecocatastrophesthey stage. The Swarm’s focus on the feat of confronting the violent efforts of asuperintelligent, deep-sea species to protect its ocean habitat against continued humanexploitation and The Rapture’s focus on the feat of locating on time the psychicallypredicteddisaster zone of an impending undersea calamity overshadow their more thanoccasional spotlighting of, for example, the dangers of methane hydrate mining. Sciencefiction, however, requires readers to be attentive to those narrative moments whenincongruities between the known world and the extrapolated world of the text emergewith critical, not just plot-supporting, purpose. Fundamental to the reading andinterpretation of science fiction is the reader’s awareness of the genre’s extrapolativepractice, which connects the now with the imagined then and therefore instigatescritical thinking about present human practices. Read as extrapolative science fiction,The Swarm and The Rapture gain merit as ecopolitical works, for “science fictionreading” mobilizes the latent ecopolitics of ecothrillers, ecopolitics that “ecothrillerreading” would otherwise diminish or fail to notice. Article in Journal/Newspaper Methane hydrate Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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German English Spanish French Italian |
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Ecothrillers Science Fiction Extrapolation The Swarm The Rapture Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
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Ecothrillers Science Fiction Extrapolation The Swarm The Rapture Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 Eric C. Otto “From a certain angle”: Ecothriller Reading and Science Fiction Reading The Swarm and The Rapture |
topic_facet |
Ecothrillers Science Fiction Extrapolation The Swarm The Rapture Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
Read as apocalyptic ecothrillers, Frank Schätzing’s The Swarm and Liz Jensen’sThe Rapture do not offer much in the way of critical reflection on the ecocatastrophesthey stage. The Swarm’s focus on the feat of confronting the violent efforts of asuperintelligent, deep-sea species to protect its ocean habitat against continued humanexploitation and The Rapture’s focus on the feat of locating on time the psychicallypredicteddisaster zone of an impending undersea calamity overshadow their more thanoccasional spotlighting of, for example, the dangers of methane hydrate mining. Sciencefiction, however, requires readers to be attentive to those narrative moments whenincongruities between the known world and the extrapolated world of the text emergewith critical, not just plot-supporting, purpose. Fundamental to the reading andinterpretation of science fiction is the reader’s awareness of the genre’s extrapolativepractice, which connects the now with the imagined then and therefore instigatescritical thinking about present human practices. Read as extrapolative science fiction,The Swarm and The Rapture gain merit as ecopolitical works, for “science fictionreading” mobilizes the latent ecopolitics of ecothrillers, ecopolitics that “ecothrillerreading” would otherwise diminish or fail to notice. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Eric C. Otto |
author_facet |
Eric C. Otto |
author_sort |
Eric C. Otto |
title |
“From a certain angle”: Ecothriller Reading and Science Fiction Reading The Swarm and The Rapture |
title_short |
“From a certain angle”: Ecothriller Reading and Science Fiction Reading The Swarm and The Rapture |
title_full |
“From a certain angle”: Ecothriller Reading and Science Fiction Reading The Swarm and The Rapture |
title_fullStr |
“From a certain angle”: Ecothriller Reading and Science Fiction Reading The Swarm and The Rapture |
title_full_unstemmed |
“From a certain angle”: Ecothriller Reading and Science Fiction Reading The Swarm and The Rapture |
title_sort |
“from a certain angle”: ecothriller reading and science fiction reading the swarm and the rapture |
publisher |
European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and the Environment; Universidad de Alcalá de Henares |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/58f8cb65a31242829b1bd91c8efd06ea |
genre |
Methane hydrate |
genre_facet |
Methane hydrate |
op_source |
Ecozon@, Vol 3, Iss 2, Pp 106-121 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://www.ecozona.eu/index.php/journal/article/view/270/616 https://doaj.org/toc/2171-9594 2171-9594 https://doaj.org/article/58f8cb65a31242829b1bd91c8efd06ea |
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1766068797748281344 |