Imagining a Future from the Present. An approach to Climate Fiction and the Anthropocene through Jorge Comensal’s novel Este vacío que hierve

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/fesa.26832917e.2025.6.2.405

Keywords:

Climate fiction, Cli-fi, Anthropocene, ecoliterature, Jorge Comensal

Abstract

This work aims to synthesize some of the proposals regarding the concept of climate fiction or cli-fi and the various forms of representation from the narrative of Anthropocene realities. Based on the proposals of Sylvia Mayer (2014), Adam Trexler (2015), and Axel Goodbody and Adeline Johns-Putra (2019), the novel Este vacío que hierve (2022) by Mexican writer Jorge Comensal will be analyzed, placing a particular emphasis on the creation of a plausible future grounded on current climate evidence, the representation of its characters, and the role of biodiversity as a fundamental element in the critique of an Anthropocene reality in Mexico City.  

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Author Biography

  • Weselina Gacinska, University of the Cloister of Sor Juana / Universidad Iberoamericana

    She has studied Hispanic language and literature, religious studies, and Anthropology and History of America in Poland and Spain. Dr. in Estudios Hispánicos from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and she is also an environmental educator. Gacinska has published several academic and popular texts on Mexican literature, a field in which she has also participated in various scientific forums since 2010

    In the last years, her studies have focused on ecocriticism, specially on animality in literature and cultural studies. She has edited the poetic anthology Soplo de vida. Antología de animales (Ojos de Sol, 2021) and she is author of the book Las aves y las letras. Los personajes alados en la literatura universal (Eirene Editorial, 2024). Currently, she is a professor of Latin America literature at the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana and teaches environmental education at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

References

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Aránguiz, Pabloy Jorgelina Sannazzaro. 2024. “Crisis ecológica global y educación desde la perspectiva de las juventudes.” Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud 22, no. 1 (enero): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.11600/rlcsnj.22.1.5797

Aridjis, Homero. 1993. La leyenda de los soles. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Comensal, Jorge. 2022. Este vacío que hierve. México: Alfaguara.

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Dwyer, Jim. 2010. Where the Wild Books Are: A Field Guide to Ecofiction. Reno: University of Nevada Press.

Eller, Erica. 2023. “Interview: Dan Bloom and the Age of Cli-Fi.” The Bosphorus Review of Books, January 2, 2025. https://bosphorusreview.com/interview-dan-bloom

Goodbody, Axel y Adeline Johns-Putra. 2019. “The Rise of the Climate Change Novel.” In Climate and Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Maldonado, Carlos. 2022. “Jorge Comensal: ‘Con el cambio climático va a ser cada vez más complicado adaptarnos.’” El País, 2 de diciembre, 2022. https://elpais.com/mexico/2022-12-02/jorge-comensal-con-el-cambio-climatico-va-a-ser-cada-vez-mas-complicado-adaptarnos.html

Mayer, Sylvia. 2014. “Explorations of the Controversially Real: Risk, the Climate Change Novel and the Narrative of Participation.” In The Anticipation of Catastrophe: Environmental Risk in North American Literature and Culture, editado por Sylvia Mayer y Alexa Wek von Mossner. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter.

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Riechmann. Jorge. 2022. Simbioética. Homo sapiens en el entramado de la vida. Elementos para una ética ecologista y animalista en el seno de una Nueva Cultura de la Tierra gaiana. Madrid: Plaza y Valdés.

Rivas, Pablo. 2024. “2024, año 1: bienvenidos a un planeta 1,5ºC más cálido.” El Salto, 26 de diciembre, 2024. https://www.elsaltodiario.com/cambio-climatico/2024-bienvenidos-planeta-15oc-calido.

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Trexler, Adam. 2015. Anthropocene fictions. The Novel in a Time of Climate Change. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.

Ventas, Leire. 2024. “El abuso de medicamentos, ansiolíticos y somníferos es síntoma de que vivimos en una sociedad incompatible con nuestro bienestar.” BBC News, 25 de enero, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cmjrrdgx1vdo

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Published

2025-03-01

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Section

Essays (Scenarios)

How to Cite

“Imagining a Future from the Present. An Approach to Climate Fiction and the Anthropocene through Jorge Comensal’s Novel Este vacío Que Hierve”. 2025. FIGURAS REVISTA ACADÉMICA DE INVESTIGACIÓN 6 (2): 109-21. https://doi.org/10.22201/fesa.26832917e.2025.6.2.405.

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