A New Lexicon for the Anthropocene: The Words of the Pandemic

Abstract

The term “Anthropocene”, introduced by Crutzen and Stoermer in 2000, describes the massive impact of human activities able to influence geological processes: humans are a force of nature in a geological sense. The recognition of a close interdependence between man and nature has been consciously elaborated only since the late 1960s and early 1970s, thanks to publications in scientific environmentalism. It is indeed valuable to note that literary texts discuss these issues much earlier. Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), in his essay Walking back in 1861 introduces the idea of preserving nature when it was unknown and unpredictable. A few years later, another author, John Muir (1838–1914), supports the interpretation of nature as worthy of intrinsic value and contributes to the creation of the Yosemite Park in California. What these texts have in common is that they belong to the genre “nature writing”, which is capable of putting itself at the service of the natural environment and to which Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (2012) by American nature writer, David Quammen, also belongs. Spillover fits perfectly into this literary tradition, embodying the main characteristics of the genre. Moreover, it shows some optimism towards the future, offering the possibility of redemption to our species. The redemption of literature in the context of environmental narration is solidified not only through nature writing. Spillover proves to be prophetic like its classical ancestors, also through the introduction of a new terminology that contributes to developing a new lexicon, that of the Anthropocene.