Научна фантастика и екокритика: поглед из наноперспективе
Science Fiction and ecocriticism: A Nano Perspective

Summary/Abstract: The paper highlights the significant contribution of science fiction to ecological debates as well as the belated and rather scant аttention paid to this genre inthe field of ecocriticism. While ecocriticism is predominantly focused upon issueswhich were explored in science fiction long time ago, science fiction continues tokeep up with the times, or even to be ahead of its time. one such example is nanopunk, a relatively new subgenre of science fiction, in which possible dangers ofnanotechnology misuse are timely announced, while the many in the lay public stillknow very little about them. The aim of this paper is to introduce a specific nanoperspective into the field of ecocrtiticism.Three notable science fiction novels (Greg Bear’s Blood Music (1985), Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age (1995), and Michael Crichton’s Prey (2002)), in whichnanotechnology plays a prominent role in modifying the biosphere, are singled outas appropriate examples for the application of the proposed approach. The paper relies largely on methodologies of postclassical narratology and econaratology, whereinthe exploration of space/place issues is moved to the forefront of research. Althougheconarratologists insist on the so-called environmental imagination, which „serves asa priviliged means of encountering the nonhuman and decentering anthropocentricassumptions“ (Caracciolo 2023: 17), nanotechnology is rarely discussed in econarratology, even in the case of unnatural spaces in science fiction (Alber 2013). Nanotechnologically created landscapes described in the aforementioned threescience fiction novels and the ominous grey goo invasion on the biosphere and itsresultant transformation in Bear’s Blood Music, to a larger extent, and in Crichton’sPrey, to a lesser extent, offer an opportunity for the exploration of the main ecocrtitical tenets. Moreover, the autonomous, intelligent and self-replicating nanospacesraise some very important ontological, epistemological and ethical questions thatneed to be addressed. The results of this research indicate that the scope of ecocriticism should be widened and its postulates redefined so as to provide for an adequateperspective on the world of nanotechnology, both in fiction and in real life.

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