''Borne'' is a 2017 novel by American writer

Jeff VanderMeer Jeff VanderMeer (born July 7, 1968) is an American author, editor, and literary critic. Initially associated with the New Weird literary genre, VanderMeer crossed over into mainstream success with his bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy. The tr ...

. It concerns a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

city setting overrun by

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

.Borne by Jeff VanderMeer review – after the biotech apocalypse
by Neel Mukherjee, The Guardian, June 15, 2017.

Plot

The novel takes place in the future, in the ruins of a nameless city dominated by a giant

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

called "Mord". The perspective character, Rachel, is a scavenger in the city; she collects various genetically-engineered organisms and experiments that were created by "the Company", a biotech firm. One day, while searching in Mord's fur, Rachel discovers a

sea anemone Sea anemones are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates of the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classifi ...

-like creature that she names "Borne".

Background

VanderMeer had for a long time considered writing about growing up in the South Pacific, where he lived as a child. One day the image of a sea anemone came to him, along with a hand which he knew belonged to Rachel, that reached out to grab the anemone from the fur of a giant bear. From that image, the rest of the city assembled itself. Mord was influenced by

Richard Adams Richard George Adams (9 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist and writer of the books ''Watership Down'', ''Maia'', ''Shardik'' and ''The Plague Dogs''. He studied modern history at university before serving in the British Army ...

's ''

Shardik ''Shardik'' is a 1974 fantasy novel by Richard Adams. ''Shardik'' is his second novel, and first of two novels set in the fictional Beklan Empire. The events revolve around the discovery, capture and military and symbolic uses made of an incred ...

'', and his never explained ability to fly was inspired by a character in

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

's ''

Nights at the Circus ''Nights at the Circus'' is a novel by British writer Angela Carter, first published in 1984 and the winner of the 1984 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. The novel focuses on the life and exploits of Sophie Fevvers, a woman who is ...

''.

Reception

The novel was highly praised, with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' saying "VanderMeer’s recent work has been

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

ian in its underpinnings, exploring the radical transformation of life forms and the seams between them." ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' said the novel reads "like a dispatch from a world lodged somewhere between science fiction, myth, and a video game" and that with ''Borne'' Vandermeer has transformed

weird fiction Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird fiction either eschews or radically reinterprets ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and other traditional antagonists of supernatural horr ...

into "weird literature."Starred review of Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
" ''Publishers Weekly'', February 6, 2017. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' said the novel plunges the reader "into a primordial realm of myth, fable, and fairy tale." Note that the online version is titled "Jeff VanderMeer amends the apocalypse". Cameron Laux in the BBC labels it one of the most overlooked recent novels, imagining "an ecological utopia where humans' abusive relationship with nature has ended."

Sequels and possible film

In August 2017 VanderMeer released the novella '' The Strange Bird: A Borne Story''.Four Questions for...Jeff VanderMeer
by John Maher, ''Publishers Weekly'', August 1, 2017. The stand-alone story is set in the same world as ''Borne'' but features different characters. VanderMeer also wrote '' Dead Astronauts'', a stand-alone novel set in the Borne universe which was released on December 3, 2019.

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

has optioned the film rights to ''Borne''.Paramount and Scott Rudin Team on Next Novel From ‘Annihilation’ Author (EXCLUSIVE)
by Justin Kroll, ''Variety'', October 18, 2016.

References

{{Jeff VanderMeer 2017 American novels American science fiction novels English-language novels 2017 science fiction novels Farrar, Straus and Giroux books Fourth Estate books