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Rujeeluck Seelakate is a PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of French and Comparative Literature, Faculty of Arts, Sorbonne University, France. Her research interests include world literature, translation, art, and cultural studies. E-mail: Rujeeluck.s@gmail.com

Abstract: This presentation aims to discuss three aspects of Violet Rain’s little-known novella Love InExtinct. (1) Queer Ecology: Questioning the supposed contradiction between the words “nature” and “queer,” the study wishes to explore how the characters define their sexuality when they were animals compared to when they become human and mostly non-binary in this boy’s love novella. (2) Anthropomorphism: Devastated by the death of a manatee in the Gulf of Thailand in 2016, Violet Rain penned this novella to raise public awareness about animal rights by telling a story from an animal’s point of view. But the use of anthropomorphism in the novella is ambiguous. On the one hand, the animal characters seem to embrace inclusivity and criticize man-made catastrophes, patriarchy, and food insecurity. On the other hand, once the animal characters become human, they start to have less concern about the environment and other animals. (3) De-extinction: The novella features scientists who support de-extinction or the reintroduction of exotic extinct animals and present it as a form of “animal protection.” As speciesism develops throughout the novella, the protagonist, who is a reincarnated extinct animal, becomes infatuated with one of the de-extinction scientists, presenting an intriguing case of scientific and ethical bias.

Keywords: queer ecology, boy’s love, anthropomorphism, speciesism, de-extinction