JEANETTE WINTERSON’S CLIMATE FICTION AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MEMORY FROM THE ANTROPOCENE IN THE STONE GODS

Abstract

This paper proposes to analyze the novel The Stone Gods (2009), by Jeanette Winterson and its relation with the construction of a memory from the Anthropocene. Broadly studied as an example of Climate Fiction, The Stone Gods tells catastrophic tales about environmental devastation in different planets and in different times, but always dealing with the fact that those devastations seem to be usually caused by humans incapable of learning from past mistakes. Stablishing a parallel with Alexis Shotwell’s theory against purity, as developed in Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times (2016), this paper aims to create a dialogue between Winterson’s narrative of environmental devastation and the necessity of looking to the past with responsibility in order to create different and possible futures.