Saturday, March 31, 2018

Canadian literary critic Mary Woodbury finally comes out in favor of recognizing publicly the rising ''cli-fi'' genre term. Thanks, Mary.



When Charlene D'Avanzo posted on Mary's site that:

''Why do people tweet falsehoods more than the truth? According to the study, false information is more “novel” than factual. Novelty attracts human attention because it’s surprising and/or shocking and conveys status because a person is “in the know” say Vasoughi et al..

''The researchers also conclude that human behavior (attention to novel information) contributes more to the spread of false claims than bots do.

''Is there a take away for those of us who write eco-literature, either fiction or non-fiction? Apparently readers may be drawn to stories or books that surprise or startle them or that they find new. This may partly explain the success of dystopian and apocalyptic cli-fi set in the future.

''Of course, unusual settings and/or characters also draw readers’ attention. My next cli-fi mystery, “Secrets Haunt the Lobsters’ Sea”, ends when the protagonist (an oceanographer) views coral gardens deep in the Gulf of Maine in a submarine. (These gardens actually exist). I thought this was kind of “cool” but maybe surprising is a better descriptor. ''

MARY then commented:

''Thanks, Charlene! 

I will add your new book to the database at 

clifibooks.com. 'Cli-fi' is not the only genre of 

these environmental novels, but it is surely 

one genre.''



Mary Woodbury's profile photo
''Thanks, Charlene! I will add your new book to the database ...... Cli-fi is not the only genre of these environmental novels, but it is surely one genre.''

PS:

Dan writes: It's so nice when people from different backgrounds with different points of view on climate change come together to agree on the power of climate change novels, often dubbed cli-fi, to impact readers and even world leaders.
Case in point: recently a literary critic in Canada named Mary Woodbury put aside her original reservations about cli-fi and has now come out publicly in support of cli-fi and said so in an honest and humble way to her followers on Google.
Its good to see people change and grow as time goes on and as new points of view enter the global discussion.

See above quote from Mary.
.
Mweanwhile, the Guardian has a great oped about the usefulness of the cli-fi term written by John Abraham, PhD


Cli-Fi – A new way to talk about climate change

If you’re not familiar with the new genre of climate fiction, you might be soon.

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