Inhereting Apocalypses Representations of the Anthropocene in Contemporary Brazilian Literature

Abstract

Cultural productions that deal with the idea of the end of the world are a common phenomenon in Western imagination. However, it is not the human species as a whole nor even the planet that is facing an end, but, rather, the unsustainable way of existence based on excessive accumulation and limitless exploitation of ecosystems, which puts humanity at risk of a real apocalypse due to climate change and the ecological crisis. Additionally, many other worlds have already undergone their demise or exist within a post-apocalyptic framework, as evidenced by the experiences of various Indigenous peoples. This article aims to examine the representations of the end of the world presented in three Brazilian novels, which employ a combination of satire and pessimism to portray dystopian scenarios threatened by the end. Não verás país nenhum [And Still the Earth] (1981), by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão, a critique of the process of re-democratization following the civil-military dictatorship in Brazil, set against the backdrop of the severe consequences of the ecological crisis; A Morte e o Meteoro (2019), by Joca Reiners Terron, addresses the extinction of an Indigenous people resulting from the devastation of the Amazon as a metaphor for recurrent colonial exploitation; A Extinção das Abelhas (2021), by Natalia Borges Polesso, a fragmented narrative that reflects the collapse of the world, from an urban center to an escape through solidarity. In light of the insights offered by thinkers such as Danowski, Ferdinand, and Viveiros de Castro, and in dialogue with the work Metade cara, metade máscara (2004) by the Indigenous writer Eliane Potiguara, we argue for the need to broaden the conception of single world and single end, in order to transcend this colonial construct that is so unproductive regarding the challenges of the Anthropocene.