An Ecocritical Reading of Neurodiversity in Richard Powers’ Bewilderment

Our home, the earth is on fire; nature continues to be assailed by pollution and despoliation; the 21st century’s most serious hazard, COVID-19 has been threatening global health. Richard Powers, in Bewilderment portrays the near dystopian future that is teetering on the brink of various social and environmental collapses. Theo Byron, a widowed astrobiologist narrates his life story with his son Robin, who has been diagnosed with multiple behavioural issues. Robin is experiencing eco-anxieties and his mental issues grant him an accomplished personality with a unique point of view. Through a bittersweet weaving of facts, fiction, philosophy and science, Powers displays the tragedy of our lives and its unavoidable connection to nature and the universe. Following the examination of Robin’s particular brain difference, this study attempts to display how Richard Powers uses the affective difference discourse proposed by Bergenmar and Jakob von Uexküll’s notion of “umwelt”, and takes a new look at the strengths and gifts of neurodiverse people, always misrecognized as deficient and abnormal. Moreover, through the related theories of Thomas Armstrong, who compares the human brain to the ecosystem, we shall analyse Bewilderment as a revisionist neuronovel, providing, through brain-related experiences, an opportunity for readers to view the world through a neurodivergent point of view.