Realism and Interface: Reading Ruth Ozeki Apocalyptically

Abstract: In its narrowness and adherence to temporal bounds, the form of the novel often struggles to represent the climate crisis accurately. I propose a technique of reading novels through the apocalyptic as an alternative to accuracy, realism, and verifiability. Ruth Ozeki’s novel A Tale for the Time Being shows what we gain from this technique, inviting questions about the role of fiction in representing disaster and the unique temporal warping that climate change engenders. I use media theory and ecocriticism as lenses through which to study metafiction, establishing a theory of realism/realistic-ness as a form of interface or relation.