Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy and the Role of Art

Marco Enrico Giacomelli reviews Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance), published in Italian by Einaudi in 2015. The trilogy explores Area X, a mysterious, inaccessible zone reminiscent of Tarkovsky's Stalker and Jodorowsky's El Topo. VanderMeer, born 1968, coined the term New Weird with his wife Ann and edits Weird Tales. Giacomelli argues that art plays a crucial, though subtle, role: both protagonists—the biologist and Control—have family ties to visual arts. The biologist's mother was a troubled artist; Control's father was an artist who bridged naïve and institutional art. Control's childhood exposure to art allows him to perceive Area X phenomena with heightened sensitivity, seeing installations and performance art in everyday structures. The article was published in Artribune Magazine #33.