Climate Anxiety and the Contemporary American Novel

by Jonas Muller

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Extent: 208 pages

Publisher: Universitätsverlag Winter

Subjects: American Studies, Literary Studies

Series: American Studies - A Monograph Series

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(July 2025)

ISBN: 9783825396497

5.28 x 8.27 inches

Price: $50.00

In stock

While the climate crisis continues to erode the preconditions for life on earth, a related psychological crisis has unfolded in parallel: the widespread experience of climate anxiety. Among large parts of the American population, constant worries about ongoing processes of ecological collapse have become commonplace and frequently affect daily functioning. Jonas Muller explores climate anxiety from a perspective that combines insights from psychological research with literary theory, tracing the affective presence of climate change in the contemporary American novel. Fictional narratives are theorized as both mirrors of anxieties around the climate crisis, as well as emotional laboratories for readers experiencing climate anxiety. What emerges from this discussion is a theory of climate anxiety as a crisis of meaning, which threatens structuring assumptions about everyday life and humanity’s place within the biosphere.

  • By (author) Jonas Muller