Hellscapes of Environmental Crisis: Hellish Landscapes in the Nineteenth-Century Popular Imagination

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Hell is on the rise. With headlines describing our "descent into Covid hell" (Petersen, 2021) and"apocalyptic" wildfires (Smith, 2021), writers are turning to Hell to express environmental concern. Asthis terminology gains currency in popular culture, a recuperation of Hell's history, theological roots, andsubsequent secularisation into metaphor is especially urgent.This study establishes the "hellscape" as a new term for reading Hell-like spaces in the long nineteenthcentury, the period often associated with Hell's theological demise (Turner, 1993; 232). In threerepresentative case studies, I analyse how Victorian writers used hellscapes to express their darkestfears in socio-ecological crises, creating a shared language that bridged numerous British dialects andregions.Research questions1. Why does Victorian literature repeatedly turn to hellish language and metaphors to describelandscapes in moments of social and environmental crisis?2. What are the characteristic features of nineteenth-century hellscapes compared to theological andliterary Hells?3. How does ecoGothic literary criticism deepen our understanding of intersections between theologicalthought and depictions of environmental corruption in the nineteenth century?4. How do the differing geographies of each case study impact depictions of the hellscape in nineteenth century literature?