City Research Online

Abstract

This article applies Jonathan Lear’s concept of radical hope to dystopian climate fiction, using Jeff Vandermeer’s weird fiction novel Borne as a vehicle to explore the intra- and extra-textual impacts of revivals in dystopian climate fiction. Fuelled by the protagonist’s actions as a radically hopeful individual, Borne’s revival is weird and uncanny, subverting dominant Messianic and redemptive concepts of revival to reframe it as a critical act (Ursula Heise, L. T. Sargant, Tom Moylan, and Rafaella Baccolini), thereby enabling radically hopeful katharsis and temporal re-sensitisation in the reader (Kyle P. Whyte). This article argues that in dystopian climate fiction, not all revivals are not to be taken literally but, supported by evidence from empirical ecocriticism (Matthew Schneider-Mayerson) and psychoanalysis (W. G. Lawrence), are cathartic acts of social dreaming on the part of writers and readers alike. n this way—far from being promises of utopia, comfort, or even continuity—fictive radically hopeful revivals in dystopian climate fiction can support a needed examination of temporality, dreams, and impermanence to redefine what it means to be radical, courageous, and honourable in the face of the climate crisis.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	Radical hope, climate fiction, climate change, empirical ecocriticism, reader affect, spiral time, social dreaming, cli-fi, weird fiction, dystopia
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity School of Communication & Creativity > Media, Culture & Creative Industries
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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