Paris (AFP)

Disappearance of bees, fight for "blue gold" or shortage of gas: the "climate fiction", cousin of science fiction, has the wind in books and on screen.

In cinema, humanity become sterile in "The Sons of Man" (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006) and the Statue of Liberty frozen by a new ice age in "The Day After" (Roland Emmerich, 2004) illustrate well the near future serving as a framework for the "climate-fiction".

But this current was baptized at the turn of the year 2010, by Dan Bloom. According to this American journalist, he has been progressing "at the speed of lightning" since "about five years", including "in reaction to Donald Trump" and climate-skeptics.

"The + cli-fi + is a sub-genre of science fiction," says Andrew Milner, professor of comparative literature at Monash University in Melbourne. "Its authors, readers, publishers and directors identify with the tradition of science fiction." While he believes that the "cli-fi" still needs to evolve to "become autonomous", he also notes that it is developing "very quickly".

"This development addresses real-world concerns," says JR Burgmann, also a professor at Monash and co-author of "Science fiction and climate change: a sociological approach" with Andrew Milner. "Literature has been slow enough to capture climate change, but it is catching up."

- Global phenomenon -

Coming from English-speaking countries, a wind of "cli-fi" is blowing around the world. In France, the series "The Last Wave" on France 2 and "The Collapse", from Monday on Canal +, illustrate its growing popularity. But this is only the tip of an early literary iceberg.

Evidenced by Maja Lunde's "A History of Bees", Germany's bestseller 2017, translates into some 30 languages, telling a story of a society where flowers need to be pollinated by hand. "I think we will see more of these books in the years to come" because "people are more and more concerned about climate change and writers write about what scares them," she told AFP. 2018.

Indeed, the current seems to be accelerating.

In Sigridur Hagalin Björnsdottir's "The Island" (2018), Iceland finds itself cut off from the world and tries to live in autarky. Jean Hegland's "In the Forest" (great success in 2017 of the French translation) tells the story of the survival of two girls in a world without electricity or gasoline. Americans Paolo Bacigalupi and Claire Vaye Watkins explore the theme of drought and the battle for "blue gold" in "Water Knife" (2015) and "The Sands of Amargosa" (2017).

The genre also flourishes in youth literature under the feathers of Jerome Leroy in "Lou after all, The great collapse" (2019) and Lorris Murail in "The Clock of the Apocalypse" (2018). "From a certain point of view, there can be no other subject" summarizes the latter, "even if young readers sometimes have the impression that they are morally".

- Incontournable -

"It has become difficult to ignore the subject," says Jean-Marc Ligny, great feat of science fiction and lead author "cli-fi" in France with "Aqua TM" and its aftermath. For him, "climate change needs stories, readers need it to be staged." The numbers, the statistics, it does not speak to them.The + cli-fi + allows to become more aware of the situation ".

"Today, a science fiction writer can not miss the question" abounds Yann Quero, French author of several books "cli-fi" and coordinator of the anthology "Global warming and after ... "to the publications Arkuiris. "Even in a space opera, one wonders why humanity will swarm in the stars."

Although it has become central recently, the theme of environmental degradation has been exploited in the "SF" for over 50 years, such as in "Drought" by JG Ballard (1964) or "The Blind Flock" of John Brunner (1972). A work as ancient as "The Raisins of Wrath" (1934) is considered a pioneer, as John Steinbeck recounts the ravages of dust storms caused by overexploitation of farmland in Oklahoma.

© 2019 AFP