Literature for a Changing Planet

Professor Martin Puchner’s 2019 Princeton University Press Lectures, delivered at TORCH, have been collected into Literature for a Changing Planet: a volume from Princeton University Press on why we must learn to tell new stories about our relationship with the earth if we are to avoid climate catastrophe.

The book follows from a series of three lectures, The Challenge of World Literature, Think Big! A modest argument about large scales, and Stories for the future, and how to get there. The 2019 lectures traced the idea of World Literature from past to present, before drawing conclusions about the role of the humanities today, and what the notion of the ‘applied humanities’ might look like when helping us tackle global challenges. You can watch the lectures here.

Applying the humanities to the climate emergency, Puchner argues that if we are to avoid environmental disaster, we must learn to tell the story of humans as a species responsible for global warming. Filled with important insights about the fundamental relationship between storytelling and the environment, Literature for a Changing Planet is a clarion call for readers and writers who care about the fate of life on the planet. Find out more about the book.

Literature for a Changing Planet is available now in the US and from April 5th 2022 in the UK.