Conference "Antropocene 4800. Letteratura, ambiente: ecocritica"
In July 2022, some meteorologists renamed the most extreme of the heat waves with the name of "Apocalypse 4800", in reference to the exceptional temperatures recorded at high altitudes and the consequent rise of the freezing level at the summit of Monte Bianco (4800 meters). Net of a rhetoric rooted in a series of contradictory emotions – that place human subject between «fear and domination, veneration and control» (Scaffai 2016) towards nature – it is undeniable how the current climate crisis leads us to reflect on the precarious equilibrium of the Anthropocene (Crutzen 2002). But in becoming culturally dominant (Benedetti 2021), the Anthropocene raises further questions about the role of literature and storytelling in a broader sense.