Under the Sea in the Age of the Meteorocene: Towards a New Constitution

Abstract

This article explores the literary and visual representations of sea-level rise and coastal encroachment within the conceptual framework of the Meteorocene — an epoch defined by the complex entanglements of human and nonhuman agencies under anthropogenic climate change. Building upon the oceanic turn and engaging with emerging fields such as critical ocean studies, blue ecocriticism and hydrocriticism, the analysis examines texts that resonate with the cultural and existential dimensions of environmental disruption. Through a non-chronological approach that juxtaposes literary imagination with deep geological time, the study investigates the transformative potential of catachronistic reading, offering new interpretive strategies to engage with the temporal and ecological complexities of the Meteorocene. The article concludes by advocating for a new public humanities that bridges literary studies with natural sciences and Indigenous epistemologies to foster ethical engagements and communal imaginaries responsive to the ongoing climate crisis.