The Anthropocene and After: Eco-Criticism, Climate Change, and the Literary Imagination

Abstract

This paper examines the intersections of eco-criticism, climate change discourse, and the literary imagination within the conceptual frame of the Anthropocene and its possible aftermath. The study investigates how literature functions not merely as a reflection of ecological crisis but as an active site of resistance, speculation, and ethical reorientation in an era defined by environmental precarity. It explores the ways in which narratives across genres—novels, poetry, and digital eco-texts—articulate both the vulnerabilities of the planet and the possibilities of sustainable futures. The methodology combines close textual analysis with eco-critical theory to interrogate how literary texts reshape human engagement with nature in the context of climate change. Through interpretive readings, the paper traces recurring motifs of ecological loss, resilience, and posthuman coexistence, showing how the Anthropocene becomes not only a geological epoch but also a cultural imagination that literature consistently mediates.
The study argues that literary narratives do more than mourn environmental collapse; they rehearse new forms of ecological consciousness that transcend human-centered perspectives. By situating literature at the heart of climate debates, the paper demonstrates how the imaginative power of storytelling provides critical frameworks for negotiating the Anthropocene and envisioning futures beyond it.