Nature fights Back: an ecofeminist reading of Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins

Abstract

The relationship between humans and nature has long been a subject in literature. The dystopian novel Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins speculates about the future implications of the drought in the state of California, United States, imagining its impacts on the lives of individuals and communities and the shifts in their relationship with the landscape. In the novel, nature writing is frequently employed to represent this transforming environment. A significant element in this dystopian scenario is the characterization of the Amargosa Dune Sea, an expanding sea of sand dunes that threatens to cover the whole region and thus shapes the lives of people. In this article, through ecofeminist lenses, we analyze the representations of nature in Gold Fame Citrus to investigate how nature writing can rewrite tainted paradigms and new modes of agency. We demonstrate that instead of passive matter, nature is imbued with agency and power in the narrative, which challenges androcentric values such power and control over nature and instrumentalism. In this manner, Watkins’ dystopia has a warning effect regarding the urgency of dealing with the climate crisis as well as of rethinking the ways we discuss, represent and relate to nature.