Edible Armageddon: Insect Superheroes and Other Villains, my chapter is out now!
Abstract: This chapter looks at the literary devices used in “insectaggedon” narratives, both in the “too many” and “too few” camp. It makes particular reference to two stories: Brooke Jarvis’ 2018 “The insect apocalypse is here, what does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?” which appeared in the New York Times, and Pulitzer Prize winner Kathryn Schulz’s stinkbug piece for The New Yorker. The chapter breaks up these narratives piece by piece and analyzes the literary devices their authors resort to. These include writing within a genre, polarity, conflation, comparison, echoing cultural stereotypes, exaggeration, as well as the creation of a viable villain within a hero-villain dynamic.
These visuals and writing that shaped this chapter include Brooke Jarvis’ ‘The Insect Apocalypse Is Here’ and Kathryn Schultz’s ‘Home Invasion’ pieces as well as lots of brilliant writing. To cite the chapter and check out the link head to: Amorosi, T.D. (2025). Edible Armageddon: Insect Superheroes and Other Villains. In: Calvi, P. (eds) The Literary Journalist as a Naturalist. Palgrave Studies in Literary Journalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56634-9_4
TESSA DITNER AMOROSI 