Climate Fiction and Ecological Ethics in Al-Ashry’s Charcoal Garden and Al-Akkad’s American War: Reviving an Emerging Arabic Genre

Abstract

This study examines how Al-Ashry’s Charcoal Garden and Al-Akkad’s American War employ  climate fiction tropes to frame ecological degradation as both a profound environmental and  ethical crisis. It situates these two works within the evolving Arabic climate fiction and global  traditions, highlighting how fundamental questions of accountability and environmental justice  remain central to their speculative narratives. Using comparative literature methodologies and  rigorous ecocriticism through thematic readings of key passages, the study contextualises each  novel concerning specific regional and historical conditions, including chronic water scarcity,  fragile desert ecologies, and destructive extractive practices, to emphasise distinctive Arabic  perspectives within this emerging genre. Significant attention is given to the nuances of  narrative form, specifically the use of symbolism, allegory, and dystopian techniques, to assess  how ecological ethics are dramatised for the reader. The analysis finds that American War projects large-scale systemic collapse, displacement, and political failure, and Charcoal  Garden emphasises the subterranean and symbolic dimensions of extraction, systemic neglect,  and uncanny landscapes. This specific Arabic context expands the genre by foregrounding  desert temporality, fossil fuel economies, and the moral consequences of extraction. Overall, this comparative reading demonstrates that speculative strategies in both texts render climate  change immediate and ethically charged, inviting readers to confront it as a pressing moral  responsibility.