Rewriting Climate Fiction through the Aztec Cosmology and Foretelling an Apocalypse in Homero Aridjis’ La leyenda de los soles

Abstract

Climate fiction is a newborn literary genre whose main purpose is to feature an unprecedentedly changed or changing climate. Homero Aridjis’ La leyenda de los soles, published in 1993, can be categorized into this form as it represents a Mexico City’s dystopian landscape in the year of 2027, characterized by the ‘ecocide’ including air pollution, severe heat, water scarcity, flood, drought, and endangered species, In addition to it, what makes this novel more characteristic is that it retrieves Aztec myths and cosmology into the future. In doing so, it demonstrates the current environmental crisis ascribes to modern anthropocentrism coupled with colonial power and developmentalism. The eschatological perspective embedded in the Aztec cosmology does not only issue a stark warning, but also teaches us the significance of respecting all human as well as non-human beings on the planet, and of living a entangled life with them. Thus, by showing a potential of Latin American climate fiction, La leyenda de los soles can be read as a ‘prophylactic apocalypticism’ that foretells climate catastrophes in order to prevent them and lead us to a radical criticism on the ecological crisis.