In The End of the Anthropocene: Ecocriticism, the Universal Ecosystem, and the Astropocene, Michael J. Gormley examines literary imaginings of the Anthropocene's end and the Astropocene's beginning – when humans are no longer bound to the blue planet on which we evolved. Gormley analyzes literary images of human tracks on Earth, the Moon, and Mars to characterize the late-stage Anthropocene and to explore humanity's role in the universal ecosystem. The End of the Anthropocene uses a predictive and paradigmatic model of ecocriticism, examining science fiction works as interplanetary nature narratives.
Chapter 1: Ecocriticism and the Universal Ecosystem
Chapter 2: Biotic World
Chapter 3: A Body in the Universal Ecosystem
Chapter 4: The Astropocene
Chapter 5: Spatiotemporal Nature
Michael J. Gormley is a professor of English at Quinsigamond Community College.
"In this visionary book, Michael J. Gormley tracks the Anthropocene – a daunting task – through swampy terrain. Weaving physics and ecology into sustained readings of fiction, The End of the Anthropocene: Ecocriticism, the Universal Ecosystem, and the Astropocene invites readers into an expansive space-time that includes and exceeds planet Earth."
– Christopher Schaberg, Loyola University New Orleans; author of Searching for the Anthropocene: A Journey into the Environmental Humanities