Science Fiction Annotation

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Genre: Science Fiction

Publication Date: February 4, 2014

Number of Pages: 195

Series: Southern Reach

Synopsis: Four women—known only as the anthropologist, the surveyor, the psychologist, and the biologist—embark on the twelfth expedition to Area X, a place that has been closed to the rest of the world for decades. The story is told from the biologist’s field journal. Of the eleven previous expeditions, none have been successful and most of the members did not return, or died shortly after returning. What is going on in Area X? What strange surprises will these women uncover, what information will they choose to share with each other, and will they make it home alive?

Science Fiction Elements:

Exploration of moral, social, philosophical, and ethical questions in a foreign setting (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 94)

Annihilation is not only a novel about an expedition to the mysterious Area X, but also an exploration of several “moral, social, philosophical, and ethical questions” which take place in a “foreign setting” (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 94). As the events of the expedition unfold, we learn that there is some information that the crew members are not disclosing with each other, such as the “long-term effects” of the biologist’s exposure to the mysterious “spores” (VanderMeer, 2014, p. 33). Her decision to withhold information from the crew calls into question the integrity of the entire mission as well as her ethical duty as a scientist to report accurate and honest information.

Settings which invoke otherness of time, place, and reality (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 94).

The foreign setting of Area X, an uninhabited area in a location unknown to readers, is the perfect place for strange and inexplicable occurrences. Throughout the entire novel, there is an unrelenting sense of foreboding. The lines of “time, place, and reality” are all blurred as the women explore Area X and “attention is placed on the concepts and consequences of scientific exploration” (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 94). The women discover hard-to-describe locations such as the “tunnel” or “tower,” an underground structure deemed a “submerged building” by the biologist (VanderMeer, 2014, p. 11). As readers, we embark on the expedition with these characters and see how their environment alters the ways in which they communicate with each other, resulting in detrimental consequences for the crew.

Sense of “otherness” emphasized by aliens or otherworldly creatures (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 94)

This novel does not reference aliens, but there are plants and animals “composed of modified human cells” and a creature known only as “the Crawler” which is described by the biologist as a “complex, unique, intricate, awe-inspiring, dangerous organism” with “human brain tissue” (VanderMeer, 2014, p. 174, 100, 195, 207). These “otherworldly” organisms add to the sense of “otherness” in this novel because they are so unfamiliar and unimaginable to readers. Even the biologist herself has never encountered anything like these organisms before, which makes her discovery of them even more creepy and interesting to readers.

Read-Alikes:

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Eden by Tim Lebbon

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

 

References

VanderMeer, J. (2014). Annihilation. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Wyatt, N. & Saricks, J. (2019). The readers' advisory guide to genre fiction (3rd ed.). ALA Editions.