How does contemporary US-American literature reimagine narrative forms to confront humanity's impact in the Anthropocene?

The current historical moment, often referred to as the Anthropocene, is defined by profound human influence on the planetary system. Lena Pfeifer examines how contemporary US-American literature negotiates the political, ethical, and epistemological challenges posed by the Anthropocene. Connecting new formalist approaches with theories of scale, she develops the concept of »Anthropocene affordances« as a new methodological framework for analyzing narrative responses to the recent ecological crisis that reconfigure conventional forms and narrative strategies to critically discuss the role of the human as a geological force.

Autorentext
Lena Pfeifer received her doctorate in American Studies/Environmental Humanities at the University of Würzburg, where she has also been working as a research assistant since 2021. Her research focuses on environmental writing of the 20th and 21st centuries, discourses of the Anthropocene, climate fiction, new formalism, and nuclear cultures.