Séminaire "Climate Fiction(s)"

Ce séminaire s’inscrit dans le projet « Climate Fiction(s) » du programme FORESEE. Lauréat de l’appel à manifestation d’intérêt lancé dans le cadre du Plan 2030, le programme FORESEE explore les expériences vécues des conséquences du changement climatique par les individus, les organisations, les territoires et l’action publique. 

Le projet structurant « Climate Fiction(s) », co-porté par Marie Thévenon et James Dalrymple, fait partie de l’axe 1 du programme FORESEE qui s’intéresse aux individus face au changement climatique : émotions, discours, récits prospectifs. Ce projet propose d’explorer différents types de fiction climatique, tant dans la littérature que dans les arts visuels, d'un point de vue anglophone, en mettant l’emphase sur la représentation des individus face au changement climatique dans ces récits prospectifs. 

Lors de ce séminaire, nous aurons le plaisir d’écouter Suhasini Vincent, Professeur des Universités à l’Université Côte d’Azur qui parlera de l’œuvre fictionnelle et non-fictionnelle d’Amitav Ghosh.

Title: The Wild as the Norm: Bearing Witness in Amitav Ghosh’s Fiction and Non-Fiction
Theme: Ecocriticism
Abstract: In The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, Amitav Ghosh writes that we have entered a time when ‘the wild has become the norm’. By presenting the Anthropocene as a time where 'the wild’ and 'the uncanny' are everyday realities, he draws attention to the fact that human beings now act as a geological force, transforming the Earth’s natural systems. In Wild Fictions, Amitav Ghosh lays stress on the need to bear witness to 'wild time', aligning literary attention with the activist practice of bearing witness at moments of ecological crisis. He argues that the ‘wild’ events of our present — supercharged storms, megadroughts, earthquakes and tsunamis — can no longer be understood as purely natural or geographical phenomena. Megadroughts affecting the Global South, for instance, exemplify the consequences of carbon-intensive modes of production that have enriched a minority while endangering vulnerable populations. This seminar will explore how Ghosh in his fiction and non-fiction bears witness, records wild time, archives lived experience, frames ecocritical parables, and anticipates how future generations will judge our actions and responses to a planet on fever.

Suhasini Vincent’s research focusses on ecocriticism and the legal scope of environmental laws in postcolonial countries. She is the author of Earth Polyphony: Law, Ecocriticism And Eco-Activism in Postcolonial India. She is a professor of British Literature, Translation and Narrativity at Université Côte d’Azur since September 2025.

Respondent : André Dodeman (ILCEA4, UGA)

Research on Amitav Ghosh

1. « Making the Material Turn: A Pedagogical Approach on Postcolonial, Social and Ecological issues in Amitav Ghosh and Arundhati Roy’s Essays and Fiction », Climate Change Education: Reimagining the Future with Alternative Forms of Storytelling, dir., Rebecca L. Young, New York: Lexington Books, 2023, 177-200.

2. « The Spice of Life: Review of The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis », Resurgence, Vol. 333, Août 2022, 68.

3. « Altered Visions: Parables of Environmental Crises in Amitav Ghosh's Works », The Beacon Webzine, Avril 2022. https://www.thebeacon.in/2022/04/22/altered-visions-parables-of-environmental-crises-in-amitav-ghoshs-works/?fbclid=IwAR14sDjhY51UXuMWtHP7NOM-3d4hJaiu0RlZ4R6sYg4ERf7Sr5hdLRQuy3o

4. « Archives of Unfair Trade in Amitav Ghosh’s Fiction », Academia Letters, Article 1185. Juin 2021. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1185

5. « Creating Ethical and Eco-friendly Communities in Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace », GNOSI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Theory and Praxis, Vol. 4, ISSN (Online): 2714-2485, Mai 2021, 64-74. https://www.gnosijournal.com/index.php/gnosi/article/view/108/139

6. « Material Ecocriticism: Maritime Trade, Displacement and the Environment in Amitav Ghosh’s Fictional Waterscape », Negotiating Waters: Seas, Oceans and Passageways in the Colonial and Postcolonial Anglophone World, dir., André Dodeman & Nancy Pedri, Delaware: Vernon Press, 2019, 149-165.

7. « An Eco-Critical Analysis of Climate Change and the Unthinkable in Amitav Ghosh’s Fiction and Non-Fiction », Literature and Environment – The Cradle of Ecocriticism, Humanities 2018, 7, 59, 2018.

8. « Narrating, Naming and Labelling the Environment in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide », Ecocriticism and Environment – Rethinking Literature and Culture, New Delhi: Primus, 2018, 173-185.

9. « Metaphors of Fine Arts in Amitav Ghosh’s Dancing in Cambodia, At Large in Burma », dir., Kerry-Jane Wallart, Commonwealth: Essays and Studies (Dijon), Vol. 32, N°1, autumn 2009, 77-86.