Cooperative Apocalypse: Hostile Geological Forces in N
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Master’s Thesis Cooperative Apocalypse: Hostile Geological Forces in N. K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Trilogy Author: Felicia Stenberg Supervisor: Johan Höglund Examiner: Niklas Salmose Term: Spring Semester 2020 Subject: English Literature Level: Advanced, 30 credits Course code: 5EN01E Abstract In this thesis I explore the place of the human in the Anthropocene, and our relationship to the Earth through an analysis of N. K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth trilogy. As the trilogy depicts an apocalyptic landscape where the Earth has sentience and humanity is divided into three subspecies, this work of speculative fiction lends itself well to be interrogated and examined as an allegory for our current climate crisis. The analysis is anchored in posthumanism and employs a variety of concepts, such as Bruno Latour’s work on agency and deanimation, Donna Haraway’s Chthulucene, and Amitav Ghosh’s work on speculative fiction among others. I argue that The Broken Earth trilogy illustrates that the Earth is an agentive network that can no longer be ignored and contend that the trilogy complicates both anthropocentrism and individualism by depicting amplified versions of human beings, and in doing so highlights the arbitrary boundaries between both nature and society, and human and nonhuman. Thus, The Broken Earth trilogy can be read as a warning call for a future to be avoided at all costs, while concurrently be used to make sense of the incomprehensibility of our contemporary era. Key words The Broken Earth trilogy, N. K. Jemisin, Bruno Latour, Agency, ANT, Geostory, Donna Haraway, Chthulucene, Sympoeisis, Become-with, Response-Ability, Anthropocene, Anthropocentrism, Posthumanism, Climate Fiction, Collectivism, Gaia Theory, Amitav Ghosh. 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 2.State of the Art: The Broken Earth Trilogy ............................................................................... 4 3. Posthuman Theory in The Anthropocene ................................................................................. 9 3.1 Gaia Theory According to Margulis and Lovelock ......................................................... 10 3.2 Latourian Moderns and (Non)humans, Divided.............................................................. 11 3.3 Agency of the Nonhuman and Geostories ....................................................................... 13 3.4 (De)Animation ............................................................................................................... 14 3.5 Donna Haraway’s Chthulucene ..................................................................................... 16 3.6 What Stories Tell Stories—The Potential of Speculative Literature ................................. 19 4. “Let’s Start with the End of The World”—an Introduction to The Broken Earth................ 21 4.1 Nonhuman Agents—Earth as a Broken Synergistic Network in Need .............................. 26 4.2 Embracing The Subhuman—Orogenes in Need of Sympoiesis in The Anthropocene ....... 34 4.3 Failed Posthumans—Stone Eaters and Orogenes in Relation to Each Other................... 46 4.4 The Issue With Living and Temporarily Dying on a Broken Earth .................................. 51 5.Reanimation—What Speculative Literature Can Do .............................................................. 56 6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 60 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 64 Stenberg 1 1. Introduction The times we live in now are, as they say, interesting. Whether it is viruses that threaten the lives of millions while politicians worry about economic collapse or the constant threat of the destruction of an environment that humans are both part of and dependent on, it is clear that the world and its inhabitants are in a constant state of vulnerability. Humanity’s role as the centre of importance in the world is now more than ever put into question, as the anthropocentric worldview that has reigned for centuries has been shown as harmful in the current epoch, today sometimes referred to by scholars as the Anthropocene. Thus, change is of the essence, and time is clearly running out. People have always turned to stories to make sense of the present moment, while literature often reflect that present in turn.1Today, this includes climate change, and the view of humanity as a geological force. Consequently, the instability of our place on this planet is something that permeates much of recent speculative fiction. In this thesis, I analyse one such work, The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin, which comprises; The Fifth Season (TFS), published in 2015; The Obelisk Gate (TOG), published in 2016; and The Stone Sky (TSS), published in 2017. All three instalments won the Hugo Award for best novel the year after their publication, making it not only the first trilogy in which all parts have received this honour, but also made author N. K. Jemisin the first African American woman to win in that category. The Broken Earth trilogy begins with the Earth literally breaking apart, via an earthquake that splits the continent known as the Stillness in half. Taking place thousands of 1An interesting historical example to note here is that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in the Summer of what is known as The Year Without Summer, allegedly caused by a volcanic eruption filling the atmosphere with ash in 1816 (“1816, The Year Without a Summer”). Whether this truly was the inspiration for Shelley remains in doubt, however, but the way history has put the two together is nevertheless of significance here. Stenberg 2 years into the future, the Earth in the trilogy—referred to as “Father Earth”—is one constantly plagued with earthquakes that cause “Fifth Seasons,” extended “winters” in which ash fills the atmosphere. These Seasons often last hundreds of years, nearly eradicating humanity every time they occur. Furthermore, it is revealed that the Earth has sentience, and is hellbent on vengeance against humanity. Therefore, the dystopian world presented in the novels exists in a constant state of environmental crisis, and perpetual peri-apocalypse. The metaphorical and allegorical parallels that can be drawn to our current environmental crisis are evident. A current example is that during the lockdown surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, pollution levels quickly decreased, clearly illustrating the correlation between humanity and the climate crisis. However, despite these measures, reduction of worldwide emission of greenhouse gases might not reach the goal scientists say is needed to stop global temperatures from rising too much, painting a dark picture of just how much we affect the Earth (Storrow). Interestingly, and of importance to this thesis, is that in April 2020 it was reported that due to the lockdown, so-called ambient seismic activity has decreased, showing that humanity is affecting the Earth’s vibration as well (Kaur). The thought of humanity literally affecting the Earth’s movement, then, is not as farfetched as previously believed. This concept of humanity as a geological force that is affecting the Earth is brought to the extreme in The Broken Earth trilogy. In the novels, humanity has through millennia been separated into three species with different abilities, who all live in a contentious and unstable state in relation to one another. Besides stills—the closest to humans as we know them today—there are those known as orogenes, people that can both cause and stop earthquakes. The third subspecies, the elusive stone eaters, look like stone statues and can travel through the Earth. Thus, the trilogy introduces people who are connected to the Earth in several different ways, both metaphorical and literal. Stenberg 3 The story in the trilogy is a complex one, and as such it is difficult to define with regards to genre. Jemisin’s works have, for instance, been labelled as both fantasy and science fiction as the trilogy moves freely and unapologetically between both genres. Additionally, The Broken Earth trilogy has also been labelled as both climate fiction—that is, fiction that in some way deal with climate change—and as belonging to the Afrofuturist tradition. In Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, Ytasha Womack argues that at its core, Afrofuturism is about the power of imagination to envision possible futures “through a black cultural lens” (loc 140) and “to reinvigorate culture and transcend social limitations” (loc 350). Womack writes that “Afrofuturism combines elements of science fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western beliefs” (loc 140). Accordingly, Jemisin writes within a tradition that lays claim to the possibility of literature to transcend obstacles and create change. Of note, however, is that in the trilogy, while the protagonists are people of colour, it is in a futuristic form, with features that often have no equivalent in our reality. Jemisin therefore complicates the notion of race by both highlighting and subverting it in the narrative. 2 The Broken Earth trilogy shows an Earth that has taken back its agency and is actively considering humankind to be its adversary. In this thesis I use a