Literary Reception of Climate Change Narratives in Coastal Communities

Thesis Abstract

Coastal communities confront increasing climate-related disruptions, yet the reception and interpretation of climate change narratives within these communities remains underexplored, risking a disconnect between literary depictions and local perceptions, values, and adaptive practices. This study investigates how residents of coastal towns interpret, negotiate, and reframe climate change narratives in contemporary literary texts and how such receptions influence local awareness, discourse, and action. The aim is to illuminate the complex relationship between literary representation and lived experience, and to identify how narrative frames shape collective meaning-making and response strategies. Specific objectives are (1) to examine the thematic configurations through which climate change is portrayed in a corpus of twenty contemporary novels and short stories selected for regional relevance and accessibility; (2) to assess how coastal residents interpret these narratives through semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 60 residents across three communities; (3) to compare reception patterns across demographic groups (age, education, occupation) using multivariate analysis; (4) to determine the influence of readers’ prior exposure to climate science on interpretive outcomes via regression analysis; and (5) to develop a conceptual model linking literary reception to local risk perception and adaptive behavior. The study adopts a mixed-methods design anchored in reception theory and reader-response perspectives, underpinned by the theoretical frameworks of schema theory and the Extended Parallel Process Model to explain engagement with risk-related narratives. The population comprises adult residents of three coastal communities with documented climate impacts, and the sample includes 60 interviewees supplemented by 120 survey respondents for triangulation. Data collection employs a purposeful corpus selection of twenty climate-focused literary texts, semi-structured interviews, and a structured questionnaire capturing demographic variables, climate risk perceptions, and self-reported adaptive behaviors. Validity and reliability are ensured through expert validation of the literary corpus, pilot testing of the interview schedule, and triangulation across qualitative and quantitative strands. The data analysis integrates thematic analysis of interview transcripts using NVivo 12 to derive core interpretive themes, along with multiple regression analysis to test the relationship between prior climate science exposure and narrative interpretation, and MANOVA to explore reception differences across demographic groups. A content analysis of the literary corpus identifies recurring motifs, frames, and acoustic features that shape reader engagement. It is anticipated that four dominant reception patterns will emerge alarmist, reflective, sceptical, and transformative, with transformative receptions more likely among participants reporting higher scientific literacy and direct exposure to climate impacts. Expected findings include evidence that narrative frames emphasizing local causality and community resilience yield greater perceived relevance and willingness to engage in adaptive practices, whereas global or abstraction-focused depictions correlate with disengagement or fatalistic attitudes. The study contributes to knowledge by bridging literary studies and environmental humanities with empirical social science, offering a parsimonious model of how literary reception mediates risk perception and adaptive behavior in vulnerable coastal populations. It also provides practical insights for fiction writers, educators, and policy communicators on leveraging narrative strategies to foster informed public engagement with climate risks. The main conclusions suggest that strategically situated coastal narratives can act as catalysts for proactive community discourse and local climate adaptation planning when aligned with residents’ lived experiences and trusted sources. Based on these insights, recommendations include promoting regionally resonant narratives in school curricula and public programming, training creators and librarians in contextualized climate storytelling, and collaborating with local authorities to co-produce narrative-based outreach that reinforces scientifically informed risk communication while preserving local cultural sensibilities.