Dr. Florian Wagner

Climate fiction, or “cli-fi,” a term coined by freelance reporter and climate activist Dan Bloom, is a growing genre that explores the cultural, social, and political contexts and consequences of climate change. In this seminar, we will examine the genre’s origins and key themes, discuss the challenges of representing climate change in fictional texts, and establish connections to current discussions in the environmental humanities and beyond, e.g., by taking a closer look at how contemporary narratives from the Majority World reimagine ecological crisis in relation to histories of (settler-)colonialism, extraction, and dispossession.
Texts to be purchased:
- Ballard, J.G. The Drowned World [1962]. Harper Perennial, 2010.
- Boyle, T.C. A Friend of the Earth. Penguin Books, 2000.
- Ghosh, Amitav. Gun Island. John Murray, 2019.
All other texts will be made available.

This course examines the longstanding fascination with the uncanny. Reading a broad range of Gothic and horror fiction from the eighteenth century to the present, we will explore how these texts generate a sense of unease and dread through atmosphere, affect, and narrative ambiguity, while at the same time producing a paradoxical sense of pleasure. We will discuss recurring motifs and formal strategies, as well as the ways Gothic and horror fiction are articulations of deeply rooted cultural anxieties, for instance, surrounding technology, ecology, the return of the repressed, etc.
Texts to be purchased:
Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House [1959]. Penguin Classics, 2009.
Robinson, Eden. Monkey Beach. Vintage Canada Edition, 2001.
All other texts will be made available.