Browsing by Author "Chinchilla Mora, Leonardo"

While eco-fiction has found a vast audience in contemporary literature reception, it is oftentimes ‘sidelined’ as a genre that is not taken seriously due to its dystopian world depictions and ‘improbable’ happenings (Ghosh 11). Nonetheless, I argue that ‘improbability’ is not an issue for Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140 (2017) as it represents the perpetuation of twenty-first-century patterns of behavior over the years, magnified by the year 2140 by menacing rising waters that submerge downtown Manhattan. Further, it is my contention that this novel represents a reformation of the capitalist system rather than its eradication since it portrays a diverse cast of characters slowly realizing that the elitist capitalist system is threatening their lives as it only sustains profit, and it depicts the transformation of such a capitalist system into a capitalism that resembles a welfare state with progressive taxation and active citizen involvement. This thesis analyses more specifically the role of community engagement, finance restructuration, and eco-sensitivity awareness as aspects that Robinson deems essential for a reformation of a capitalist system. Moreover, I ground my claim that this shift towards a reformed capitalism follows Merchant’s concept ‘radical ecology:’ “the cutting edge of social ecology [since] it pushes social and ecological systems towards new patterns of production, reproduction and consciousness that will improve the quality of human life and the natural environment” (Radical 9). In terms of methodology, this thesis lies at the intersection of three movements – ecocriticism, blue humanities, and social ecology– as they all are part of the narrative world of New York 2140. In the analysis here provided, the subthemes of place-connectedness, community resilience, financial objectives, commodification of causes, and even gender roles in capitalism are addressed as forming part of Robinson’s envisioned changes for the capitalist system. By analyzing Robinson’s novel, readers can not only visualize the shortcomings of the ongoing capitalist system, but also they can identify key factors that are needed to swirl the direction of that economy into one that benefits more people, perhaps even before arriving at such drastically-altered world (i.e., before the year 2140).