Saturday, February 21, 2015

A college student responds positively to the "cli-fi" genre term

 
In a blog post, an American college student responds positively to the "cli-fi" genre term, writing:
 
When reading the NPR article from April 2013 by radio reporter Angela Evancie headlined ''So Hot Right Now: Has Climate Change Created A New Literary Genre?'', I liked seeing New Orleans author Nathaniel Rich’s emphasis of the role of a novelist. Unlike a scientist’s point of view of climate change, the novelist doesn’t obtain the responsibility to just write about climate change to get people’s attention. However they have the creative advantage to see what climate change/ global warming do to people in the modern world; what they do to the human heart. He also mentions to read the entire book of ''Odds Against Tomorrow'', and readers will not find one ''climate change'' phrase. “Climate change as a phrase, is cliché. Global warming is a cliché”(as rich said in the NPR interview in 2013).

When Rich mentioned that in his interview it struck me and made me realize my exact reactions to the word climate change. I knew it was bad from the start, yet I hear it all the time and do nothing. Does the word in general not trigger my emotions? Do I just ignore it because it’s a constant subject? Is it just a cliché?

From a class I am taking at the University this semester, about cli fi novels, however, I have grown fonder of climate change in a new interpretation; ''cli-fi''. I feel emotions, I have my heart tugged and I feel like I should be making a difference.
When Rich mentioned he did not once use the phrase “climate change”, I had to wonder; was this why I felt more drawn to this?
Looking back at all our other texts too, climate change was rarely spoken about, but you knew it was the message. I feel personally hearing climate change constantly I tone it out, but when you look at it from outside of the box; I’m involved.
''Cli-fi'' is a great example of creativity to get people to think about climate change, without saying climate change.

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