The Challenge of Imagining Ecological Futures: Paolo Bacigalupi’s <em>The Windup Girl</em>

Abstract

This article analyzes the complex ecological components of Paolo Bacigalupi’s awardwinning novel The Windup Girl (2009). Beginning with the short stories he published in Pump Six and Other Stories (2008), Bacigalupi has geared his science-fiction narratives to ecologically germane technoscientific developments such as agri-corporate production and trademarking of genetically-modified organisms. While ecologicallyengaged science fiction has increased since the 1970s, this article argues that The Windup Girl appears as part of a consistent ecological-sf agenda on Bacigalupi’s part. More importantly, this article argues that The Windup Girl is exceptionally sophisticated and ideologically savvy in its analyses of ecological crises and the challenges of trying to imagine our way out of them. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.176 on Sat, 09 Apr 2016 06:32:05 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms