The Theme of Climate Change in What We Can Know
Abstract Ian McEwan’s novel What We Can Know , which is set in the dystopian future, portrays a British professor who is searching for the lost poem amidst the havoc caused by climate change. In What We Can Know , the theme of climate change dominates the novel’s background and liaises several crucial themes, such as the quest for the lost poem, love, and denialism. Whereas the theme of climate change is instrumental in What We Can Know , its significance remains unexplored. Seeking to expand academic research on the theme of climate change in the novel, the article presents a qualitative ecolinguistic study that focuses on (i) how climate change is framed, (ii) what types of metaphors are associated with climate change, and (iii) what aspects of climate change are foregrounded and, conversely, backgrounded in the text. The results of the investigation demonstrate that the theme of climate change in What We Can Know is (i) framed through a scientific prism, (ii) represented as the metaphor of Derangement, and (iii) portrayed as climate change denialism. These findings are illustrated and discussed in the article.
Publisert i East-West Cultural Passage, 2026
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