Eco-Gothic Reimaginings: Climate Anxiety, Non-Human Agency, and Environmental Horror in Twenty-First-Century Speculative Fiction

Vikram Bose,Dr. Aakash Roy

Department of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad

1. Abstract

The twenty-first century has seen a significant evolution in speculative fiction, where ecological crises, climate anxiety, and environmental degradation have redefined the Gothic’s boundaries. The rise of the eco-Gothic—a creative and critical approach that merges ecological awareness with Gothic elements of horror, eerie landscapes, ghostly presences, and monstrous changes—marks a cultural shift in depicting the Anthropocene. This research article investigates how modern speculative fiction uses eco-Gothic aesthetics to express climate anxiety, highlight non-human agency, and reimagine environmental horror. By integrating ecocriticism, Gothic studies, posthumanism, and climate fiction (cli-fi), the article explores key literary works and narrative techniques that embody ecological fear and ethical realignment. The study contends that eco-Gothic speculative fiction challenges human-centered paradigms by empowering landscapes, weather systems, animals, and geological forces, creating narratives where the environment itself becomes a haunting presence or antagonist. The eco-Gothic also redefines horror by associating it with slow violence, ecological collapse, extinction fears, and uncanny transformations that blur the line between human and non-human. The research examines works by authors like Jeff VanderMeer, Kim Stanley Robinson, Marian Womack, Margaret Atwood, and Amitav Ghosh, placing them within broader theoretical discussions on the Anthropocene, spectral ecology, and planetary ethics. Methodologically, the article uses textual analysis, thematic mapping, and conceptual synthesis to identify recurring themes such as haunted ecosystems, ecological monstrosity, climate trauma, and posthuman subjectivity. The findings show that eco-Gothic narratives serve not just as dystopian warnings but as ethical interventions that encourage readers to face ecological responsibility and envision alternative ecological futures. By emphasizing non-human agency and climate anxiety, twenty-first-century speculative fiction transforms the Gothic from a genre of supernatural fear into a powerful imaginative tool for addressing planetary crisis. Ultimately, this research concludes that eco-Gothic reinterpretations are a crucial literary response to climate change, allowing speculative fiction to act as a cultural bridge between environmental science, ethical philosophy, and imaginative storytelling. The eco-Gothic thus emerges as a critical perspective for understanding how literature addresses ecological vulnerability, redefines horror in the era of climate catastrophe, and imagines new ways of coexistence in a fragile, more-than-human world.

2. Keywords

Eco-Gothic; Climate Anxiety; Environmental Horror; Speculative Fiction; Anthropocene; Non-Human Agency; Ecocriticism; Posthumanism; Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi); Gothic Literature; Ecological Uncanny; Planetary Ethics