Reading Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Abstract: In this short reflective piece, I consider the utility of Jeff Vandermeer’s recent novel Annihilation as a means of reckoning climate change and the enduring presence of the Anthropocene. Paying special attention to concepts of the uncanny and the dissolution of binaries between human and nonhuman life forms, I posit that the ability of Vandermeer’s text to disrupt readers’ conceptualizations of “nature” is precisely what is needed to contend with our current ecological moment.