Italian Science Fiction and the Environmental Humanities

This volume explores Italian science fiction from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, covering literary texts, films, music and visual works by figures as diverse as Maria Rosa Cutrufelli, Peter Kolosimo, Primo Levi, Antonio Margheriti, Gilda Musa and Roberto Vacca. It broadens the horizons of both Italian studies and the environmental humanities by addressing a long-neglected genre, and expands our understanding of relations between the ecological, the imaginary and the sociopolitical. The chapters draw on a variety of methodological frameworks, including animal studies, ecocriticism, ecofeminism, eco-media studies, energy humanities and posthumanism. The reader will gain insights into consequential topics such as anthropocentrism/speciesism, ecomodernist thought, environmental justice struggles at the planetary and regional level, non-human and new materialist ontologies, utopian/dystopian philosophies and prospects for transitioning beyond the crisis of petro-modernity through the construction of post-depletion futures. Open Access versions of the volume editors' introduction to the book, Marco Malvestio's chapter 'Spaceships in the Anthropocene: Peter Kolosimo and the End of (Our) Times', Matteo Gilebbi's chapter 'Uncanny Spaces in Inhuman Times: The Art of Giacomo Costa', Raffaella Baccolini and Chiara Xausa's chapter 'Ecofeminist Care at the End of the World: Collaborative Survival in Niccolo Ammaniti's Anna and Maria Rosa Cutrufelli's L'isola delle Madri', Daniel Finch-Race's chapter 'Industrial Wonders and Pitfalls in Emile Souvestre's Le Monde tel qu'il sera en l'an 3000 (1846) and Agostino della Sala Spada's Nel 2073! (1874)' and Arielle Saiber's interview with Francesco Verso will be made available on publication.