Our Temporary Civilisation single work   short story   science fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 1919... 1919 Our Temporary Civilisation
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A satirical survey of fossil fuels and their impact of human civilisation, beginning with a seemingly straightforward account but moving into a far-future history of military dictatorships, royal lineages, and, eventually, the rise to power of Gilbraltan apes (Barbary macaques).

Notes

  • Warning: Please be aware that this work contains words, terms or descriptions which may be culturally sensitive and are considered inappropriate today, but which reflect the period in which it was written.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1919
Serialised by: The Lone Hand 1907 periodical (213 issues)
Notes:
Appeared in two instalments: 1 March 1919 (pp.11-12) and 7 April 1919 (pp.11-12)

Works about this Work

Sinking and Floating on a Shoreless Sea : Co-Reading 'The Fool and His Inheritance' Catriona Mills , Rebecca Olive , Nina Clark , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Paradoxa , no. 31 2020; (p. 272-292)

'Drawing from a recent AustLit project on climate change fiction, this paper discusses the earliest example we have traced of climate-change fiction in post-invasion Australia: James Edmond’s short story ‘The Fool and His Inheritance’. Published in 1911, the story begins in ‘the basement of things among the coals and the debris’ and moves through the Industrial Revolution, water wars, and the Great Slaying to the ultimate destruction of the Last Man by rising oceans. Analysis of this work in the twin contexts of its writing (1911) and our reading (2019) show the seeds of modern climate-change fiction sown over a century ago, as well as revealing the complex roots of such strains of thinking as ecofascism. We bring to this analysis three discrete and distinct approaches: bibliography, environmental science, and feminist cultural studies. From our diverse disciplinary positions, we offer a tripartite analysis to critique Edmond’s story, make sense of its place in the ‘climate change fiction’ genre, trouble the genre’s origins, and explore the value of multi-disciplinary co-reading approaches to literature.'

Source: Abstract.

Sinking and Floating on a Shoreless Sea : Co-Reading 'The Fool and His Inheritance' Catriona Mills , Rebecca Olive , Nina Clark , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Paradoxa , no. 31 2020; (p. 272-292)

'Drawing from a recent AustLit project on climate change fiction, this paper discusses the earliest example we have traced of climate-change fiction in post-invasion Australia: James Edmond’s short story ‘The Fool and His Inheritance’. Published in 1911, the story begins in ‘the basement of things among the coals and the debris’ and moves through the Industrial Revolution, water wars, and the Great Slaying to the ultimate destruction of the Last Man by rising oceans. Analysis of this work in the twin contexts of its writing (1911) and our reading (2019) show the seeds of modern climate-change fiction sown over a century ago, as well as revealing the complex roots of such strains of thinking as ecofascism. We bring to this analysis three discrete and distinct approaches: bibliography, environmental science, and feminist cultural studies. From our diverse disciplinary positions, we offer a tripartite analysis to critique Edmond’s story, make sense of its place in the ‘climate change fiction’ genre, trouble the genre’s origins, and explore the value of multi-disciplinary co-reading approaches to literature.'

Source: Abstract.

Last amended 1 Oct 2020 09:16:33
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