Exuberant Life as Existential Anxiety: Fictional Accounts of Human-Algae Relations

The increase and spread of algae signal increasingly ‘awkward’ relations between them and humans. To what extent, however, might literary depictions of algae reframe and nuance such tensions? Taking seriously an environmental humanities ambition to foment ‘mutual flourishing’, I argue that representations of algae in fiction highlight an existential anxiety over algae’s capacity to embody extreme exuberance. Through an analysis of stories where humans and algal assemblages (both macro- and micro-) are pitted against one another, I signal two central concerns of algal awkwardness that appear: algae represent thresholds to alterity, and algae can thrive as autonomous beings. Such concerns highlight anxiety over algae’s indifference to human life, undermining a human exceptionalist perspective on evolution by suggesting that human life is meaningless. Such stories, therefore, can be read as cautionary tales by which humans may inquire into and reflect on their own biases in favour of or against excessive exuberance.