Research article | Open Access
International Journal of Language and Education Research 2026, Vol. 8(2) 25-47
pp. 25 - 47
Publish Date: August 30, 2026 | Single/Total View: 0/0 | Single/Total Download: 0/0
Abstract
Climate fiction (Cli-fi) is one of the literary responses to the ecological changes that are a product of the Anthropocene. The narrative structures of climate change representation, while they get less attention, have received sustained critical scrutiny in recent scholarship about the theme of cli-fi. This study focuses on the narratological structure of Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future (2020) in order to prove that certain climate fictions develop distinctive narrative patterns that are capable of reflecting the ideological and epistemological tensions of a planetary crisis. Through close textual analysis, this study identifies a number of repeated structural features found in the novel, namely: catastrophic immersion as entry point into the climate catastrophe, scalar expansion from personal witness to global systems, polyphonic narrative voices, documentary interruptions that conflate fiction and analysis, trauma-focused subjectivity, and essayistic commentary on political and economic systems. This paper argues that these structural features are not just stylistic innovations but ideological interventions. Robinson’s narrative brings together various knowledges – scientific, political, experiential – within a single narrative structure. In doing so, the novel reconfigures modern convention to present a climate politics that speaks to collective responsibility, intergenerational justice, and systemic change. As per the article, cli-fi as a genre, has developed specialized narrative structures and hybridised storytelling forms in order to tackle climate change’s ideological and conceptual demands.
Keywords: Climate fiction (Cli-fi), Anthropocene, Narratological structure, Polyphonic narrative, Hybridised storytelling
APA 7th edition
Messaoudi, M. (2026). Anthropocene Ideology and Narrative Structure in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future (2020). International Journal of Language and Education Research, 8(2), 25-47.
Harvard
Messaoudi, M. (2026). Anthropocene Ideology and Narrative Structure in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future (2020). International Journal of Language and Education Research, 8(2), pp. 25-47.
Chicago 16th edition
Messaoudi, Merwan (2026). "Anthropocene Ideology and Narrative Structure in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future (2020)". International Journal of Language and Education Research 8 (2):25-47.
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