The question is burning: How can we live in harmony with a planet that we are littering, poisoning and constantly destroying? Frank Schätzing raised it in his most successful novel a good 20 years ago.
Whales attacking humans frantically in order to kill them. Worms that trigger tsunamis. Lobsters and other shellfish that either bring plague to mankind or want to overrun it. In Frank Schätzing’s great bestseller “The Swarm”, it seems as if the deep sea is taking revenge on humans, who are destroying their habitat with all its garbage and CO2.
It has been almost two decades since the Cologne-based book author landed a global hit with it and cast a spell over millions of readers on the oceans. “The Swarm” was presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2003 before appearing in spring 2004. Now he is experiencing a double comeback, which could not be more topical in these times of crisis: On Thursday, a limited special edition was published by Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch, which supplements the thriller with bonus material such as a current essay by the author. The film adaptation, which costs more than 40 million euros, will be broadcast in a few days: ZDF will gradually show the eight-part series “Der Schwarm” from February 22nd in the media library, then also on linear television.
Unknown Universe
The jubilee edition and the international television production once again put the spotlight on a space that is said to be less well known than the universe: the deep sea. Schätzing took advantage of this unknown universe to conjure up a fictional catastrophe in it. It was based on scientific expertise that he had acquired through meticulous research. The result was a worldwide hit that was translated into 27 languages and sold six million copies internationally.
From the scientific side, the author’s clean work is certified. “Every single element of Mr. Schätzing’s book is real and scientifically correct,” says microbiologist Ute Hentschel-Humeida from the Geomar Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel, which in the novel is one of the brave armada of the scientific community. Even if worms cannot actually trigger tsunamis, natural hazards from the sea such as these giant waves are quite real.
Ultimately, that’s what makes the world’s oceans so fascinating, says the marine biologist. “It’s the ambivalence of the ocean that makes this ecosystem so exciting. It’s equally a place of longing, but also frightening with its depth, coldness and the unknown.”
What is the “swarm” about? Right: Strange things happen in the world’s oceans, off the coasts of Peru and Canada as well as in Norway, the USA and elsewhere. Everywhere the sea seems to rebel against humanity. But can that be? Is nature, disgusted by the misdeeds of humans, now uninhibitedly fighting back?
Mysterious swarm intelligence
Fictitious scientists are puzzling over whether the whole thing could be related to global warming. The CIA smells – of course – terrorism. The nameless US President, who, not coincidentally, strongly resembles George W. Bush, says: “Personally, I don’t believe in the fairy tale of the freaky nature. We are at war.”
One of the novel’s central heroes, the Norwegian biologist Sigur Johanson, finally comes to the conclusion: “We are not witnessing a natural disaster. Nor are we dealing with terrorist groups or rogue states.” Instead, he faces a mysterious hive of intelligence from the depths of the sea. The big showdown finally comes after almost 1000 pages of reading on the “edge of a distant galaxy” – on the seabed off Greenland.
Frank Schätzing wrote that a good 20 years ago. You can describe the “swarm” as a science novel, science fiction, horror or, like its publisher, as an “early parable of climate change” – just please not as an “eco-thriller,” as Schätzing emphasizes. In any case, the world has changed since then: Back then, people didn’t always stare at their smartphones, but occasionally just out of the window. Although climate change was known for a long time, it was not nearly as present and ubiquitous as it is today. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, people were more afraid of Islamist terrorists than of invisible CO2 emissions. Or, as Schätzing now puts it: “Global warming ran under a niche crisis.”
It’s different today. The fundamental importance of the oceans for the global climate is well known, and the climate crisis is manifesting itself more and more frequently and violently in catastrophes such as the flood in the Ahr Valley in 2021, in heat waves that are just as deadly as forest fires. Many people have decided to fly less, eat less meat and generate less waste to protect the climate. Sustainability has become fashionable, and that’s a good thing for the good of the planet – as long as it’s not pure greenwashing.
ecosystem sea
After almost two decades, “The Swarm” is by no means out of date. The seas continue to be irritated to the extreme by man today. The climate crisis with rising temperatures, CO2 emissions, acidification, littering and overfishing of the seas, but also noise and military ammunition: all of this has a negative impact on the ocean ecosystem, says marine biologist Hentschel-Humeida.
Schätzing wonders what “The Swarm” would look like if he were to write it today? “A swarm 2.0 without Fridays for Future and their counterparts – unthinkable!” He writes. Even without actors from the emerging world power China and reference to the power of the corporations, he would ignore reality in 2023. “If I wrote the swarm today, it would be more of a metaphor than ever, no matter how much I insisted that it was entertainment,” the writer muses.
One question he raised back then is now very topical in view of the pandemic, the climate crisis and the Ukraine war: How does humanity actually want to live on planet Earth without destroying it and ultimately abolishing itself? “The fact is, things will continue after us, one way or another,” Schätzing is certain. “We cannot destroy the world. We can only destroy our world.”