“Into the mutation”
Osahon Ize-Iyamu’s “More Sea than Tar” (2019) as Climate Fiction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22063014 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cédric Courtois (0000-0003-3516-135X, Université de Lille, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Commonwealth Essays and Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2270-0633 • E-ISSN: 2534-6695 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/ces.7510 |
| OpenAlex | W3190013899 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 20 |
In this paper, Nigerian author Osahon Ize-Iyamu’s 2019 short story “More Sea than Tar” is used as a template for “Climate Fiction.” This ecodystopian short story is read within the broader category of speculative fiction and is part of an emerging stream of dystopian fiction from Nigeria and Africa more generally. I first analyse the poetics and politics of the “African Anthropocene” through a close reading of the text and through references to other writers and philosophers’ works. Then, the question of vulnerability is raised, as Ize-Iyamu puts forward an environment that has become unfamiliar and hostile, in order for the readers to “experience fear in their guts.” Finally, I study how Ize-Iyamu weaves both resilience and hope into his narrative in order to counterbalance the sinister atmosphere. Despite the “ecodystopian” environment, there are dreams of a better world, and strategies of survivalism that are put in place. “More Sea than Tar” can also be read as a cautionary tale, a pedagogical nudge to the readers in order for them to lead more ecofriendly lives
Aesthetics · Anthropocene · Art · Dystopia · Environmental ethics · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Poetics · Poetry · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · History · Philosophy · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
Powers of Horror
Imagining the Future of Climate Change
The Text, the World, the Critic
The Great Derangement
Homo Sacer
Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Rethinking climate communications and the “psychological climate paradox”
African Futurism
Life, Sovereignty, and Terror in the Fiction of Amos Tutuola
Climate change in literature and literary studies
The Creaturely Modernism of Amos Tutuola
After the End Times
Guilty Speculations
The Climate of History
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |