Jeff VanderMeer: The Poet Laureate of Weird Fiction Returns
Jeff VanderMeer has garnered a myriad of accolades, being hailed as āthe poet laureate of weird fiction,ā the āking of weird fiction,ā and even āweird Thoreau.ā With such titles, itās particularly noteworthy that VanderMeer describes his latest novel, āAbsolution,ā as his most bizarre and unconventional work to date.
āAbsolutionā serves as an eerie and unsettling epilogue to the immensely popular Southern Reach trilogy, which captivated readers with its haunting narrative and was released in rapid succession in 2014. The trilogy has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and has been translated into an impressive 37 languages. In the initial three novels ā āAnnihilation,ā āAuthority,ā and āAcceptanceā ā a shadowy organization dispatches ill-fated expeditions of researchers into a contaminated area along the Forgotten Coast, known as Area X. This mysterious region is marked by the unexplained disappearance of human inhabitants and the peculiar mutations of local flora and fauna, evolving into something beyond comprehension. As the trilogy reached its conclusion, Area X was expanding, leaving readers to ponder the fate of humanity and the planet itself.
This year, VanderMeer delighted his devoted fanbase by announcing the unexpected arrival of a fourth installment. True to his signature hallucinatory style, this new novel raises just as many questions as it answers.
The fourth book, āAbsolution,ā takes readers back two decades to the Forgotten Coast, where the enigmatic aberrations first emerged. Divided into three distinct sections, VanderMeer chronicles three separate missions aimed at exploring and comprehending this enigmatic region, each of which descends into chaos in its unique way. The first section follows a group of biologists who observe unsettling and bizarre animal behavior. The second narrative centers on an operative working for Central, a clandestine agency, who gradually realizes he is being manipulated by his superior. The final segment presents a wild, expletive-laden first-person account from a soldier named Lowry, dispatched on a reconnaissance mission into Area X, who progressively loses his grip on reality as he confronts the incomprehensible horrors within.
During a recent video interview from his home in Tallahassee, Florida, VanderMeer shared insights on his motivations for revisiting Area X, his strategies for maintaining the mystery over the past decade, and his intriguing perspective on why he believes alligators are often misunderstood.