ABSTRACT
This chapter takes the recent resurge of interest in dystopian fiction as a starting point for an investigation into the relationship between speculative storytelling and the cultural discourse on sustainability. Drawing on the work of sociologists Shai Dromi and Eva Illouz, it suggests that eco-dystopian texts are cultural critiques in the sense that they present readers with a dilemma and then imbue that dilemma with emotional value. It argues that Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is a pertinent example of such a critique in that it invites readers to share the moral dilemma of its hypherempathetic protagonist while making them viscerally aware of the environmental and social conditions that have caused that dilemma.
