Unnarratable Pain and Species Extinction: Insects as Narratives in Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem

Abstract

This study investigates Liu Cixin's depiction of large-scale extermination in The Three-Body Problem as a critique of narrating species pain during the Anthropocene. Drawing on Kafka and Forster's works, I examine how humans are often portrayed as insects in post-apocalyptic literature. I contend that these narratives anticipate human extinction through descriptions of indescribable pain experienced by animal and insect swarms, which are often equated to human suffering, potentially undermining the unique otherness of non-human species.

Presenter Biography

Ruth Y.Y. Hung is an accomplished scholar with degrees in three knowledge fields and fluency in two languages. Currently an Associate Professor at the English Department of Hong Kong Baptist University, Dr. Hung teaches and publishes literary work's ethical, critical, and creative dimensions. She has dedicated her career to bridging cultural and geographic divisions. Her contributions to our understanding of world literature and its historicism have been rewarded with numerous accolades, including her appointment as a masthead member of boundary 2: an international journal of literature and culture (2010-) and as a member of the International Association of University Professors of English (2023-).