When: Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PMWhere: BLOC, ArtsOne Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS
IHSS Visiting Fellow Professor Caroline Levine (Cornell University, USA) will discuss how novels can help us understand and navigate the climate crisis
This lecture poses the question: Can the study of the novel help us to address the accelerating climate catastrophe? In response, Professor Caroline Levine will offer three unconventional hypotheses. The first is that the novel’s forms afford a limited scope of thought and action that prevent us from developing effective political responses. The second is that the dominant aesthetic values of the past century are being put to use to support neoliberal and climate denialist agendas. And the third is that the realist novel has some specific tools for modeling sustainability that might give us some ways forward. Consequently, ecocritical literary studies needs a new account of form, a new set of aesthetic values, and a new canon.
The lecture is organised by the School of English and Drama and supported by the IHSS Visiting Fellowships Scheme.
This event is free to attend but please register in advance.