T I M O T H Y M O R T O N Frankenstein and Ecocriticism

The concept of global weirding captures the unpredictable extremes of weather and climate change experiences, characterized by toxic heat, drought, and wildfires, juxtaposed with ungenial weather, such as unexpectedly wet summers.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was birthed during a significant climatic event known as the Year without a Summer (1816), caused by the eruption of the Indonesian volcano, Mount Tambora, which led to plummeting temperatures and widespread crop failures.
- The year has historical implications tying Shelley’s narrative to themes of climate change.
Shelley’s description of 1816 as a “wet, ungenial summer” is echoed in the novel through the watery, clouded eyes of the monster, signifying recognition and kinship despite fear.

While Frankenstein is often labeled as the first science fiction novel, it could be more accurately identified as the first weird tale with qualities of cosmic fear as posited by H.P. Lovecraft. He describes the weird as a malign suspension of fixed laws of Nature, which now appear increasingly unstable due to the climate crisis.
The weird genre is distinct from gothic and horror, providing a narrative framework for addressing climate change by engaging with both fear and fascination without the endings of hope or resignation.
The narrative tightly intertwines humanity and nonhuman existence, reflecting on the consequences of human actions that manipulate nature, resulting in hybridities indicative of a lack of boundaries and potentially catastrophic unintended consequences.

Paul J. Crutzen argues the Anthropocene began in the late 18th century, signaled by stable increases in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, closely related to the rise of industrial science including James Watt's steam engine.
The creature in Frankenstein represents this hybrid issue of climate anxiety, illustrating humanity's role as a geological force altering the biosphere.
The duality of the creature’s identity reflects the intersection of human and nonhuman characteristics: it desires recognition while simultaneously evoking horror, illustrating the interaction between the human and nonhuman worlds.

Contemporary literature struggles to engage effectively with climate change narratives, suggesting that failure to adapt represents a broader cultural crisis.
By examining Frankenstein, readers can trace a counter-tradition to the mainstream realism of its time, responding viscerally to the uncanny and disrupted climate of Shelley’s era.

S.T. Joshi states that the weird tale arises from world views shaped by trauma and the advent of accelerating modernity.
This literary exploration occurs amid crises of rationality, where narratives often represent underlying crises such as capitalist modernity and global catastrophe beyond mere historical events.

Shelley’s narrative responds to the impact of climate change as much, if not more, than technological advancements within the late 18th century.
Victor Frankenstein embodies the scientific curiosity surrounding natural phenomena and often seeks to manipulate them, illustrated through his fascination with electrical power—a key driver in his creation.
- The destructive weather of 1816 serves as a backdrop to Victor's ambition and the allure of technology that turns into a plague upon his life.

The novel confronts ethical dilemmas regarding the fear of the nonhuman, urging respect and kinship rather than contempt.
Victor’s ongoing disdain for his creature brings forward themes of alienation and responsibility, culminating in an interaction that showcases his ultimate failure to empathize with his creation.
The creature's narrative seeks to humanize it in Victor’s eyes yet ironically fails to subvert the anthropocentric gaze that continues to inform the American gothic tradition.

Unique horror in the weird evokes existential reflections upon our interaction with nature and the nonhuman, fostering a sense of humility towards unfamiliar and horrific realities.
The sublime is revisited through a weird lens, subverting typical reactions of awe and threatening to reinforce anthropocentrism with reflection upon the troubling dynamics of creator and creation.
Narrative invocations of the sublime in Frankenstein counterpose Victor's aspirations against the grotesque reality of his own monster's existence, demonstrating a chilling mirror of creator and created intertwined in fears and anxieties over the unknown.

Frankenstein serves as an early exploration of ecological fear and hybrid identities, prefiguring modern encounters with environmental crises epitomized by the Anthropocene.
The novel embodies the conflict within human identity as it relates to technology, nature, and emergent forms across the human-nonhuman spectrum.
Current engagement with weird fiction allows for deeper comprehension of interspecies connectivity, presenting a narrative of care in an anthropogenic age, confronting historical narratives shaped by environmental destruction.