The Overstory by Richard Powers
Review by Ana Prundaru.
Richard Powers' Pulitzer-winning novel The Overstory forms part of the emerging genre of climate fiction, or cli-fi [1]. It focuses on the life of trees and tree enthusiasts and delivers a wake-up call to conserve nature, in light of anthropocenic transitions.
In the Overstory, trees are more than romanticised backdrops to human activities. In an effort to highlight their immesurable contribution to the upkeep of ecosystems, trees are depicted in an active voice [2]. Powers adopts the point of view of trees, as evidenced through tree monologues and events that unfold on the timeline of trees. The use of active voice of trees appears to respond to two main anthropocenic challenges, namely the overwhelming under-appreciation of trees and apathy toward ecological degradation [3]. In that context, Powers writes: ‘If (y)our mind were only a slightly greener thing, we’d drown you in meaning.' [4]
Through the Hoel family’s tradition to keep photographic evidence of their tree, Powers reminds readers to dignify regularly overlooked, yet incredibly valuable natural resources. Powers stresses the resilience and longevity of the chestnut tree that has witnessed the lives of many Hoel family members, while acknowledging the absence of other chestnut trees that could have grown from the seeds planted by the Hoel family. This absence speaks for the anthropocenic concern of the future of ecosystems.
Powers effortlessly shrinks and expands time, allowing characters’ stories to unfold alternatively from the viewpoint of trees and humans. Powers writes of Olivia and Nick, who have been living on a tree in an attempt to protect it from loggers: ‘They have been on forest time too long to count in mere hours anymore. The work is over in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.’ [5] The Overstory is full of such reminders that humans are small, short-lived constituents in a world of giants, such as trees and oceans.
Nonetheless, as Powers gives readers close glimpses into the secret lives of trees, he also highlights the traits humans share with trees. Patricia’s discovery that trees are ‘social creatures’[6] reflects emerging anthropocenic awareness that non-human life forms have elements of agency. Among others, trees can direct water or nutrients through mycorrhizal networks to neighbouring plans in need [7]. Powers’ choice to use trees’ point of view urges readers to consider their relationship to nature, in the hope that less people take the environment for granted:
Your kind never sees us whole. You miss the half of it, and more. There's always as much belowground as above. That's the trouble with people, their root problem.
Life runs alongside them, unseen.[8]
The traditional literary narrative of nature as a pristine place that people retreat to, has given way to anthropocenic awareness that interactions between nature and humans are so wide-ranging that the two are essentially intertwined [9]. The Overstory reminds of how the Anthropocene challenges stubborn ideas that human and non-human life-forms exist separate from one another [10]. As multiple environmental disasters occur all across the globe, it becomes increasingly vital to acknowledge that not a single space on earth escapes human impact [11]. In light of this, Powers stresses the interconnectedness of humans and nature [12] and firmly rejects human subjugation of the ecosystems [13].
Patricia, who appears to be modeled after trailblazing botanist Suzanne Simard, discovers that trees ‘talk' to each other [14]. In recent decades, scientists have uncovered more and more information that substantiates Simard’s postulation that trees communicate with one another. For instance, in the event of insect attacks, trees can send signals of distress through chemical, hormonal and electrical signals [15]. When an acacia tree’s leaves are chewed off by a giraffe, the tree sends distress signals through ethylene gas, which alerts other acacias and propels them to emit tannins into their leaves [16]. Based on these topical discoveries, Powers elucidates complex ecological processes in vivid details, stressing that trees are an important part of the glue that keeps the tapestry of life together:
A colossal, rising, reaching, stretching space elevator of a billion independent parts, shuttling the air into the sky and storing the sky deep underground, sorting
possibility from out of nothing. [17]
The manner in which Patricia’s book unites diverse characters with trees and with one another mirrors ecological interworking between trees, highlighting that the fate of trees is intertwined with the fate of humans: ‘their lives have long been connected, deep underground. Their kinship will work like an unfolding book. In one way or another, all their lives turn toward the miracle of trees.’[18]
The Overstory acknowledges the dichotomy of trees as threatened and the absence of trees as a threat. This is very much in line with the reality of the Anthropocene, in which ecosystems altered by humans are irrevocably damaged, causing previously rare events like persistent droughts, flash floods and uncontrollable wildfires [19]. As remarked by Nick: ‘We don’t make reality. We just evade it. So far. By looting natural capital and hiding the costs. But the bill is coming, and we won’t be able to pay.’ [20]
Powers inspects various attitudes toward environmental problems. On one end of the spectrum, Vietnam veteran turned radical activist Pavlicek is prepared to die or go to prison to save the trees, because ‘(h)e owes his own life to a tree.’[21] On the other end of the spectrum, Neelay remains relatively unfased by natural degradation, stating that:
We’ll live and trade and make deals and have love affairs, all in symbol space. The world will be a game, with on-screen scores… Real life? Soon we won’t even
remember how it used to go.[22]
Art plays a significant role for a number of characters. Mimi reads poetry,[23] while Dorothy and Ray act in theatre plays.[24] In his Pulitzer interview, Powers revealed his belief that environmental writing can mobilise people to become more involved in protecting the environment: ‘The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.’[25] Yet, Powers cannot discount human limitation, as seen in his depiction of Ray’s pragmatic view of people’s ability to grasp the importance of ecosystems:
(t)o be human, is to confuse a satisfying story with a meaningful one, and to mistake life for something huge with two legs. No: life is mobilised on a vastly larger
scale, and the world is failing precisely because no novel can make the contest for the world seem as compelling as the struggles between a few lost people.[26]
Those who understand the urgency in the Anthropocene need a tireless spirit, as there is no guarantee that their efforts will produce the expected outcome. Powers portrays the ambiguities of anthropocenic advocacy work and the uneven power structures through a number of gritty vignettes. Among others, Powers describes the short-lived attempts of Nick, Olivia, Douglas and Mimi to stop deforestation by staging sit-ins.
On the legal front, Powers touches upon the contemporary movement to give nature legal rights [27]. Activists Nick and Olivia name their sit-in area The Bio-Region of Cascadia [28], in an effort to create an independent State that is untouchable by loggers. Intellectual property lawyer Ray Brinkman considers whether endowing trees with legal personhood may protect them from being felled, burned and polluted.
Mirroring the current state of environmental protection efforts, Powers’ activist characters face a seemingly hopeless fight against immensely powerful actors, such as global corporations and hired lobbyists [29]. Despite the defeat experienced by trees and humans, a delicate sense of hope permeates the novel, such as when a plant grows out of a rotting tree trunk. Toward the end, the word ‘Still’[30] seems to underline the idea that rebirth will follow extinction and suffering. While nature lovers will likely fail to save all of habitat from implosion, some species will undoubtedly survive. After all, nature does not need humans, but humans need nature.
Powers obscures his own idea of environmental justice, preferring instead to focus on the message that there is hope for nature, if its wellbeing is prioritised by powerful actors. Scientists agree that the impact of human actions will be felt hundreds, if not thousands of years from now [31]. Consequently, it is unlikely that visible healing of ecological systems will happen in our lifetime. But, if people come together, Powers seems to believe that such progress could be achieved in a chestnut tree’s lifetime.
[1] Caren Irr, ‘Climate Fiction in English’ (2017) Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature p. 1.
[2] Val Plumwood, ‘Nature in the active voice’, Australian Humanities Review (2009) 46, p. 126.
[3] Leo Barasi, ‘Climate change apathy, not denial, is the biggest threat to our planet‘ (2018) The Guardian, ⟨https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/climate-change-apathy-not-denial-threat-planet⟩, accessed 05.February 2021.
[4] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 8.
[5] ibid 250.
[6] ibid 120.
[7] Melissa Koch, Forest Talk: How Trees Communicate (Lerner Publishing Group 2019) p. 42.
[8] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 7.
[9] Christian Hummelsund Voie, ‘Nature Writing of the Anthropocene’ (2017) Thesis for Doctoral Degree in English, Mid Sweden University, p. 9.
[10] Wendelin M. Küpers, ‘From the Anthropocene to an ‘Ecocene’ ―Eco-Phenomenological Perspectives on Embodied, Anthrodecentric Transformations towards Enlivening Practices of Organising Sustainably’ (2020) Sustainability 20, p. 4.
[11] Marc W. Cadotte, Jos Barlow, Martin A. Nunez et al, ‘Solving environmental problems in the Anthropocene: the need to bring novel theoretical advances into the applied ecology fold’ (2017) Journal of Applied Ecology 54 (1) p. 1.
[12] Natural forces and human forces are so intertwined that the fate of one determines the fate of the other. See Jan Zalasiewicz, Mark Williams, Will Steffen, Paul Crutzen, ‘The New World of the Anthropocene’ (2010) Environmental Science & Technology 44 (7) p. 2231.
[13] Such attitudes were spread by French philosopher Rene Descartes. As the only rational beings, Descartes saw humans as wholly separate from and superior to nature and nonhuman animals, who were considered mere mindless machines to be mastered and exploited at will. See Heather Alberro, ‘Humanity and nature are not separate – we must see them as one to fix the climate crisis’ (2017) The Conversation, ⟨https://theconversation.com/humanity-and-nature-are-not-separate-we-must-see-them-as-one-to-fix-the-climate-crisis-122110⟩, accessed 05.February 2021.
[14] Richard Grant, ‘Do Trees Talk to Each Other?’ (2018) Smithsonian Magazine, ⟨https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/⟩, accessed 20.February 2021.
[15] ibid.
[16] ibid.
[17] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 109.
[18] ibid 137.
[19] Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (University of Chicago Press 2016) p. 24.
[20] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 309.
[21] ibid 90.
[22] ibid 227.
[23] ibid 44.
[24] ibid 72.
[25] ibid 324.
[26] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 365.
[27] Grant Wilson, ‘Humans Have Rights and So Should Nature’ (2021) Nautilus 94, ⟨https://nautil.us/issue/94/evolving/humans-have-rights-and-so-should-nature⟩, accessed 07.February 2021.
[28] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 321.
[29] Carey Gillam, ‘Revealed: Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban‘, The Guardian (2021), ⟨https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/feb/16/revealed-monsanto-mexico-us-glyphosate-ban⟩, accessed 20.February 2021.
[30] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 473.
[31] Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, Working Group on the Anthropocene, ‘Results of binding vote by AWG’ (2019),⟨ http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/working-groups/anthropocene/⟩, accessed 08.February.2021.
Richard Powers' Pulitzer-winning novel The Overstory forms part of the emerging genre of climate fiction, or cli-fi [1]. It focuses on the life of trees and tree enthusiasts and delivers a wake-up call to conserve nature, in light of anthropocenic transitions.
In the Overstory, trees are more than romanticised backdrops to human activities. In an effort to highlight their immesurable contribution to the upkeep of ecosystems, trees are depicted in an active voice [2]. Powers adopts the point of view of trees, as evidenced through tree monologues and events that unfold on the timeline of trees. The use of active voice of trees appears to respond to two main anthropocenic challenges, namely the overwhelming under-appreciation of trees and apathy toward ecological degradation [3]. In that context, Powers writes: ‘If (y)our mind were only a slightly greener thing, we’d drown you in meaning.' [4]
Through the Hoel family’s tradition to keep photographic evidence of their tree, Powers reminds readers to dignify regularly overlooked, yet incredibly valuable natural resources. Powers stresses the resilience and longevity of the chestnut tree that has witnessed the lives of many Hoel family members, while acknowledging the absence of other chestnut trees that could have grown from the seeds planted by the Hoel family. This absence speaks for the anthropocenic concern of the future of ecosystems.
Powers effortlessly shrinks and expands time, allowing characters’ stories to unfold alternatively from the viewpoint of trees and humans. Powers writes of Olivia and Nick, who have been living on a tree in an attempt to protect it from loggers: ‘They have been on forest time too long to count in mere hours anymore. The work is over in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.’ [5] The Overstory is full of such reminders that humans are small, short-lived constituents in a world of giants, such as trees and oceans.
Nonetheless, as Powers gives readers close glimpses into the secret lives of trees, he also highlights the traits humans share with trees. Patricia’s discovery that trees are ‘social creatures’[6] reflects emerging anthropocenic awareness that non-human life forms have elements of agency. Among others, trees can direct water or nutrients through mycorrhizal networks to neighbouring plans in need [7]. Powers’ choice to use trees’ point of view urges readers to consider their relationship to nature, in the hope that less people take the environment for granted:
Your kind never sees us whole. You miss the half of it, and more. There's always as much belowground as above. That's the trouble with people, their root problem.
Life runs alongside them, unseen.[8]
The traditional literary narrative of nature as a pristine place that people retreat to, has given way to anthropocenic awareness that interactions between nature and humans are so wide-ranging that the two are essentially intertwined [9]. The Overstory reminds of how the Anthropocene challenges stubborn ideas that human and non-human life-forms exist separate from one another [10]. As multiple environmental disasters occur all across the globe, it becomes increasingly vital to acknowledge that not a single space on earth escapes human impact [11]. In light of this, Powers stresses the interconnectedness of humans and nature [12] and firmly rejects human subjugation of the ecosystems [13].
Patricia, who appears to be modeled after trailblazing botanist Suzanne Simard, discovers that trees ‘talk' to each other [14]. In recent decades, scientists have uncovered more and more information that substantiates Simard’s postulation that trees communicate with one another. For instance, in the event of insect attacks, trees can send signals of distress through chemical, hormonal and electrical signals [15]. When an acacia tree’s leaves are chewed off by a giraffe, the tree sends distress signals through ethylene gas, which alerts other acacias and propels them to emit tannins into their leaves [16]. Based on these topical discoveries, Powers elucidates complex ecological processes in vivid details, stressing that trees are an important part of the glue that keeps the tapestry of life together:
A colossal, rising, reaching, stretching space elevator of a billion independent parts, shuttling the air into the sky and storing the sky deep underground, sorting
possibility from out of nothing. [17]
The manner in which Patricia’s book unites diverse characters with trees and with one another mirrors ecological interworking between trees, highlighting that the fate of trees is intertwined with the fate of humans: ‘their lives have long been connected, deep underground. Their kinship will work like an unfolding book. In one way or another, all their lives turn toward the miracle of trees.’[18]
The Overstory acknowledges the dichotomy of trees as threatened and the absence of trees as a threat. This is very much in line with the reality of the Anthropocene, in which ecosystems altered by humans are irrevocably damaged, causing previously rare events like persistent droughts, flash floods and uncontrollable wildfires [19]. As remarked by Nick: ‘We don’t make reality. We just evade it. So far. By looting natural capital and hiding the costs. But the bill is coming, and we won’t be able to pay.’ [20]
Powers inspects various attitudes toward environmental problems. On one end of the spectrum, Vietnam veteran turned radical activist Pavlicek is prepared to die or go to prison to save the trees, because ‘(h)e owes his own life to a tree.’[21] On the other end of the spectrum, Neelay remains relatively unfased by natural degradation, stating that:
We’ll live and trade and make deals and have love affairs, all in symbol space. The world will be a game, with on-screen scores… Real life? Soon we won’t even
remember how it used to go.[22]
Art plays a significant role for a number of characters. Mimi reads poetry,[23] while Dorothy and Ray act in theatre plays.[24] In his Pulitzer interview, Powers revealed his belief that environmental writing can mobilise people to become more involved in protecting the environment: ‘The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.’[25] Yet, Powers cannot discount human limitation, as seen in his depiction of Ray’s pragmatic view of people’s ability to grasp the importance of ecosystems:
(t)o be human, is to confuse a satisfying story with a meaningful one, and to mistake life for something huge with two legs. No: life is mobilised on a vastly larger
scale, and the world is failing precisely because no novel can make the contest for the world seem as compelling as the struggles between a few lost people.[26]
Those who understand the urgency in the Anthropocene need a tireless spirit, as there is no guarantee that their efforts will produce the expected outcome. Powers portrays the ambiguities of anthropocenic advocacy work and the uneven power structures through a number of gritty vignettes. Among others, Powers describes the short-lived attempts of Nick, Olivia, Douglas and Mimi to stop deforestation by staging sit-ins.
On the legal front, Powers touches upon the contemporary movement to give nature legal rights [27]. Activists Nick and Olivia name their sit-in area The Bio-Region of Cascadia [28], in an effort to create an independent State that is untouchable by loggers. Intellectual property lawyer Ray Brinkman considers whether endowing trees with legal personhood may protect them from being felled, burned and polluted.
Mirroring the current state of environmental protection efforts, Powers’ activist characters face a seemingly hopeless fight against immensely powerful actors, such as global corporations and hired lobbyists [29]. Despite the defeat experienced by trees and humans, a delicate sense of hope permeates the novel, such as when a plant grows out of a rotting tree trunk. Toward the end, the word ‘Still’[30] seems to underline the idea that rebirth will follow extinction and suffering. While nature lovers will likely fail to save all of habitat from implosion, some species will undoubtedly survive. After all, nature does not need humans, but humans need nature.
Powers obscures his own idea of environmental justice, preferring instead to focus on the message that there is hope for nature, if its wellbeing is prioritised by powerful actors. Scientists agree that the impact of human actions will be felt hundreds, if not thousands of years from now [31]. Consequently, it is unlikely that visible healing of ecological systems will happen in our lifetime. But, if people come together, Powers seems to believe that such progress could be achieved in a chestnut tree’s lifetime.
[1] Caren Irr, ‘Climate Fiction in English’ (2017) Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature p. 1.
[2] Val Plumwood, ‘Nature in the active voice’, Australian Humanities Review (2009) 46, p. 126.
[3] Leo Barasi, ‘Climate change apathy, not denial, is the biggest threat to our planet‘ (2018) The Guardian, ⟨https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/climate-change-apathy-not-denial-threat-planet⟩, accessed 05.February 2021.
[4] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 8.
[5] ibid 250.
[6] ibid 120.
[7] Melissa Koch, Forest Talk: How Trees Communicate (Lerner Publishing Group 2019) p. 42.
[8] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 7.
[9] Christian Hummelsund Voie, ‘Nature Writing of the Anthropocene’ (2017) Thesis for Doctoral Degree in English, Mid Sweden University, p. 9.
[10] Wendelin M. Küpers, ‘From the Anthropocene to an ‘Ecocene’ ―Eco-Phenomenological Perspectives on Embodied, Anthrodecentric Transformations towards Enlivening Practices of Organising Sustainably’ (2020) Sustainability 20, p. 4.
[11] Marc W. Cadotte, Jos Barlow, Martin A. Nunez et al, ‘Solving environmental problems in the Anthropocene: the need to bring novel theoretical advances into the applied ecology fold’ (2017) Journal of Applied Ecology 54 (1) p. 1.
[12] Natural forces and human forces are so intertwined that the fate of one determines the fate of the other. See Jan Zalasiewicz, Mark Williams, Will Steffen, Paul Crutzen, ‘The New World of the Anthropocene’ (2010) Environmental Science & Technology 44 (7) p. 2231.
[13] Such attitudes were spread by French philosopher Rene Descartes. As the only rational beings, Descartes saw humans as wholly separate from and superior to nature and nonhuman animals, who were considered mere mindless machines to be mastered and exploited at will. See Heather Alberro, ‘Humanity and nature are not separate – we must see them as one to fix the climate crisis’ (2017) The Conversation, ⟨https://theconversation.com/humanity-and-nature-are-not-separate-we-must-see-them-as-one-to-fix-the-climate-crisis-122110⟩, accessed 05.February 2021.
[14] Richard Grant, ‘Do Trees Talk to Each Other?’ (2018) Smithsonian Magazine, ⟨https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/⟩, accessed 20.February 2021.
[15] ibid.
[16] ibid.
[17] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 109.
[18] ibid 137.
[19] Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (University of Chicago Press 2016) p. 24.
[20] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 309.
[21] ibid 90.
[22] ibid 227.
[23] ibid 44.
[24] ibid 72.
[25] ibid 324.
[26] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 365.
[27] Grant Wilson, ‘Humans Have Rights and So Should Nature’ (2021) Nautilus 94, ⟨https://nautil.us/issue/94/evolving/humans-have-rights-and-so-should-nature⟩, accessed 07.February 2021.
[28] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 321.
[29] Carey Gillam, ‘Revealed: Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban‘, The Guardian (2021), ⟨https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/feb/16/revealed-monsanto-mexico-us-glyphosate-ban⟩, accessed 20.February 2021.
[30] Richard Powers, The Overstory (W.W. Norton & Company 2018), p. 473.
[31] Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, Working Group on the Anthropocene, ‘Results of binding vote by AWG’ (2019),⟨ http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/working-groups/anthropocene/⟩, accessed 08.February.2021.
Ana Prundaru lives in Switzerland. Her recent work appears in Lunate, North Dakota Quarterly and Suburban Review.
