ABSTRACT
The novels and climate-related disasters discussed in Chapter 5—the new ice ages and the drought—cause the characters’ long-forgotten memories to surface. They perceive the ice pack-covered planes and the dried-up riverbeds and fields as uncannily resonant of traumas from the past: wars, colonialism, and social injustice. Their authors, who are born in the first part of the twentieth century and remember the Cold War with its nuclear threats, depict climate catastrophes in reference to the return of the repression mechanism: half-forgotten historical catastrophes are reflected in present calamities. Yet, the novels by Ballard and Christopher were written before climate change became a globally discussed issue (although environmental worries were already a part of public discourse), whereas the novel by Turner derives from the early years of the debate. The books by the next generation of writers—Maggie Gee, Paolo Bacigalupi, Ruth Ozeki, and Yoko Tawada—were published during the last three decades of the post-1989 period. The enthusiasm about what appeared to be the final victory of liberal democracy very soon turned into worry about the future of humanity.
