The Language of Ice in the Anthropocene: German Science Fiction and Eco-Literature

This chapter will focus on three German novels: Frank Schätzing’s Der Schwarm (2004), Wilhelm Wulf’s Eiszeit in Europa? (2004) and Ilija Trojanow’s EisTau (2011). Der Schwarm is a science fiction novel which story touches various topics, including the destruction and poisoning of the marine ecosystems on earth, the importance of the sea for humanity and the coexistence of different species, while Eiszeit in Europa? is a novella on the consequences of a breakdown in the Gulf Stream caused by melting of the polar icecap. Finally, EisTau is a literary fiction about climate disaster which narrates the story of a scientist working as a travel guide on an Antarctic cruise ship. In all three novels ice emerges as a topic with different nuances: something mysterious that is hidden in the depths of the sea (Der Schwarm), a precious element that should be protected (EisTau) but also a threat to life as we know it (Eiszeit in Europa?). Ice has been an important element of German science fiction from its very beginning. For instance, both Alfred Döblin’s Berge Meere und Giganten (1924) and Hans Dominik’s Atlantis (1925) integrates processes of icing and de-icing into their apocalyptic scenarios. When thinking about nowadays science fiction, however, new elements come into play. Ice is no more only a representation of the non-human which must be faced in order to survive but becomes the symbol of an «agentic nature» which interacts with humans. The first purpose of this chapter is to analyse the different meanings which ice assumes by Schätzing, Wulf and Trojanow, also paying attention to the metaphorical ice-related fields that emerge in the three works. After doing this, attention will be paid on how the literary topos of ice is used by the different authors to represent the «intra-action» between humankind and nature in the Anthropocene era, and on how this imagery can convey eco-engaged messages to the reader and tackle complex issues such as climate change.