Climate fiction has emerged as a crucial narrative response to the hyperobject (Morton 2013) of climate change, challenging the traditional functions of the novel. Addressing the crisis of climate change denial identified by Ghosh (2016), this paper explores how cli-fi fosters responsibility by bridging the gap between scientific and philosophical knowledge and emotional engagement. The study focuses on David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas (2004), analysing its cyclical structure as a “new form of historical novel” (Jameson 2013). By moving beyond the dialectics of realism, Mitchell’s narrative architecture addresses the Anthropocene’s call for a new form of cognition, intertwining human and nonhuman histories across vast temporal scales. Through the lens of Johns-Putra’s “registers of time” (2019), I argue that Cloud Atlas depicts environmental and societal collapse not as a singular apocalypse, but as an ongoing cycle where everything is interconnected. By establishing a link between cyclical time and hope, Mitchell forces us to broaden our perspective on human life across vast stretches of space and time. In doing so, he reveals how seemingly insignificant individual actions merge to create new, imponderable physical and historical events that redefine the planet’s future (Clark 2015).
Narrating Climate Change: Notes on David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas
Elisa Fortunato
2026-01-01
Abstract
Climate fiction has emerged as a crucial narrative response to the hyperobject (Morton 2013) of climate change, challenging the traditional functions of the novel. Addressing the crisis of climate change denial identified by Ghosh (2016), this paper explores how cli-fi fosters responsibility by bridging the gap between scientific and philosophical knowledge and emotional engagement. The study focuses on David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas (2004), analysing its cyclical structure as a “new form of historical novel” (Jameson 2013). By moving beyond the dialectics of realism, Mitchell’s narrative architecture addresses the Anthropocene’s call for a new form of cognition, intertwining human and nonhuman histories across vast temporal scales. Through the lens of Johns-Putra’s “registers of time” (2019), I argue that Cloud Atlas depicts environmental and societal collapse not as a singular apocalypse, but as an ongoing cycle where everything is interconnected. By establishing a link between cyclical time and hope, Mitchell forces us to broaden our perspective on human life across vast stretches of space and time. In doing so, he reveals how seemingly insignificant individual actions merge to create new, imponderable physical and historical events that redefine the planet’s future (Clark 2015).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
