New Books in Critical Theory Jemma Deer, "Radical Animism: Reading for the End of the World" (Bloomsbury, 2020)
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Nov 16, 2025 Jemma Deer is a researcher in residence at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society and author of *Radical Animism: Reading for the End of the World*. In this discussion, she explores the intersections of animism and the Anthropocene, advocating for a shift away from human-centered thought. Deer highlights how literature, from Shakespeare to Virginia Woolf, gains new significance in the context of climate change. She presents reading as a way to challenge human superiority and emphasizes the importance of non-human perspectives. Her future work delves into concepts of extinction and fungal interconnections.
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Climate Change As A Fourth Blow
- Deer frames animism as recognizing agency beyond the human, not as 'primitive' belief. She argues climate change functions as a fourth blow to human narcissism, revealing our dependence and limits.
Texts Live Beyond Their Authors
- Literature and language themselves have an animistic life that can exceed authorial intent. Contemporary contexts like the Anthropocene can reanimate older texts with new meanings.
Use Etymology To Enliven Reading
- Pay attention to etymology to reveal language's material history and hidden meanings. Use word histories to enliven readings and notice latent resonances in texts.
