Abstract
Storying the Ecocatastrophe: Contemporary Narratives about the Environmental Collapse is a collection of twelve essays that explore how narratives represent the environment and the gradual, often imperceptible, crises unfolding within it. Edited by Helena Duffy and Katarina Leppänen and published by Routledge in 2024, the volume seeks to harness the political potential of storytelling by analyzing how representational strategies in contemporary cultural works heighten public awareness of the impending, or rather, already ongoing climate catastrophe. Reflecting the editors’ belief in the power of narrative to inspire societal change, this review summarizes and synthesizes key narrative strategies examined in the book for writing about climate change, ecocatastrophe, nature, and hope, and for the representation of the nature-human relationship. Not only does the collection offer concrete narrative techniques for representing environmental issues, but it also encourages critical reflection on previously erroneous approaches to the more-than-human world and possible future shifts. An invaluable resource for both general readers and specialists, this work provides knowledge and tools that can be mobilized in the effort to protect our planet.
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How to cite this paper
Empowering Environmental Narratives: A Review of Storying the Ecocatastrophe
How to cite this paper: Qihang Xie, Lifu Jiang. (2025) Empowering Environmental Narratives: A Review of Storying the Ecocatastrophe. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 9(10), 1847-1850.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.10.002