Julia Hoydis
Extinction Narratives – Narratives of the (Im)possible Ends of our World
Lecture
Julia Hoydis
Humanity is currently confronted with the sixth mass extinction of species in the history of the Earth, which differs from previous extinctions in that it is caused by humans themselves, i.e. anthropogenically. In literature and other art forms, we increasingly find ideas and stories that respond to the interlinked crises of species extinction, biodiversity loss and climate change. Extinction is a complex phenomenon, not only scientific, but cultural too, and the way it is dealt with reflects prevailing ideas about the relationships between humans, animals and the (environment).
In her lecture, Julia Hoydis will explore how fictional narratives deal with hope, loss and end-time scenarios against the backdrop of endings and finiteness, which manifest itself through hope and acceptance, but also through resilience and solutions. Drawing on various media such as novels, plays, dance performances, films and video games as examples, she further investigates, how countermeasures such as de-extinction are depicted, for example through genetic engineering experiments and species protection. Prevailing narrative patterns, some of them dystopian or elegiac, are also taken into account.
In particular, Hoydis will discuss how literature can contribute to the socio-political debates on intergenerational and environmental justice. How can the potential of extinction narratives be utilized? She will also discuss how extinction narratives and their function as cultural models of (im)possible endings of our current world are always linked to predictions and values.
Artists
Participating artists
Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Julia Hoydis
has been Professor of English Literature from the 18th to the 21st century at the Department of English Studies at the University of Graz since 2024. She previously taught at the Universities of Klagenfurt, Cologne, Duisburg-Essen and Cambridge. Her research interests include the history and development of the English novel, narrative theory, literature and (natural) science (especially risk theory), posthumanism and recent digital narrative forms (including literature and AI), postcolonial studies, and ecocriticism/environmental humanities. Her current research focuses on climate change narratives, including in the Austrian Science Fund FWF-funded joint project Just Futures? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cultural Climate Models (2023 – 2026), which deals with questions of intergenerational justice and ideas of climate futures in various media.
Her book publications include Climate Change Literacy (with Roman Bartosch and Jens Martin Gurr, Cambridge University Press, 2023), Risk and the English Novel (De Gruyter, 2019) and Tackling the Morality of History: Amitav Ghosh and the Ethics of Storytelling (Winter, 2011). Since 2019, she has been editor of Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies and Vice President of the German Association for English Studies (2022 – 2025). In addition to her academic career, she holds a diploma in classical and modern stage dance (Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, London, 2000), and also worked as a freelance dancer in Cologne and Aachen until 2016.
Julia Hoydis