image of person or book cover 7762269275880329276.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Climate and Crises : Magical Realism as Environmental Discourse
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Climate and Crises: Magical Realism as Environmental Discourse makes a dual intervention in both world literature and ecocriticism by examining magical realism as an international style of writing that has long-standing links with environmental literature. The book argues that, in the era of climate change when humans are facing the prospect of species extinction, new ideas and new forms of expression are required to address what the novelist Amitav Gosh calls a "crisis of imagination." Magical realism enables writers to portray alternative intellectual paradigms, ontologies and epistemologies that typically contest the scientific rationalism derived from the European Enlightenment, and the exploitation of natural resources associated with both capitalism and imperialism. Climate and Crises explores the overlaps between magical realism and environmental literature, including their respective transgressive natures that dismantle binaries (such as human and non-human), a shared biocentric perspective that focuses on the inter-connectedness of all things in the universe, and, frequently, a critique of postcolonial legacies in formerly colonised territories. The book also challenges conventional conceptions of magical realism, arguing they are often influenced by a geographic bias in the construction of the orthodox global canon, and instead examines contemporary fiction from Asia (including China) and Australasia, two regions that have been largely neglected by scholarship of the narrative mode. As a result, the monograph modifies and expands our ideas of what magical realist fiction is.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Contents indexed selectively.

Contents

* Contents derived from the London,
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe,
:
Routledge , 2019 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Expanded Reality : Alexis Wright's Revitalisation of Dreamtime Narratives, Ben Holgate , single work criticism
'Indigenous Australian Alexis Wright's fiction demonstrates how Lawrence Buell's concept of the "environmental unconscious" is a relative term) The collective ideologies and social experiences that shape an individual's perception of the environment vary between people of different societies and cultures. The environmental unconscious, therefore, is a heterogeneous phenomenon rather than a singular, homogeneous one. And, of course, the environment itself — with the definite article — is a relative term, dependent upon the actual geographical locality. Wright's fiction is largely set in Northern Australia, where populations are sparse, and where arid or semi-arid landscapes meet tropical seas. In particular, the backdrop within much of her three novels to date is the Gulf of Carpentaria, from where her family originates, and which is the home of the Waanyi nation. Moreover, Wright imbues her fiction with the Indigenous Australian Dreamtime, a philosophy and spiritual framework that is inextricably connected to the Australian landscape, but which is substantially different from Western philosophies, even ecological ones. In other words, Wright's books are notable for being unlike European or North American fiction in both the geographical environment of their settings and the world view that underpins the narratives.' (Introduction) 
 
(p. 42-72)
Sublime Wilderness : Embracing the Non-Human in Richard Flanagan’s Tasmania, Ben Holgate , single work criticism
'Narrator Sid Hammet's opening remark in Gould's Book of Fish (2001) encapsulates a recurring theme of Richard Flanagan's fiction: the perception of human existence as something bigger than Western materialism and urban existence, of anthropic life as one element within a profound, mysterious cosmos. Flanagan conveys this transcendental awareness through a style of writing that frequently involves magical realist elements and which is inextricably tied to a philosophy based on ecology and a connection to the Tasmanian landscape, a philosophy influenced by Indigenous Tasmanians and their precolonial culture. In particular, Flanagan blends the magical and the environmental through his persistent leitmotif of wilderness, specifically Tasmania's unique and remote South-West Wilderness.' (Introduction) 
 
(p. 73-94)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Routledge ,
      2019 .
      image of person or book cover 7762269275880329276.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 234p.
      Note/s:
      • Published February 12, 2019
      ISBN: 9781138553484

Works about this Work

[Review] Climate and Crises : Magical Realism as Environmental Discourse Antonio Jose Simoes Da Silva , 2020 single work
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 20 no. 1 2020;

— Review of Climate and Crises : Magical Realism as Environmental Discourse Ben Holgate , 2019 multi chapter work criticism
'Ben Holgate’s Climate and Crises: Magical Realism as Environmental Discourse (2019) makes an important contribution to scholarship on the interplay between culture and society, with a distinct focus on the representation of the effects of human occupation of the natural world. It is a work of outstanding scholarship, meticulously researched and attentive to each novel’s distinct cultural, political and aesthetic frameworks. Although he disputes its central premise, Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016) both impels and haunts Holgate’s thinking. Ghosh lamented novelists’ failure to recognise and address the impact of climate change. In words quoted in Holgate, he wrote: ‘the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture and a crisis of imagination.’ Where Holgate’s thinking differs is in his view that while this may the case with ‘the conventional realist structure of the British, European or American novel’ (6), ‘magical realist fiction and environmental literature have a long tradition of overlapping’ (1). This study is concerned with examining that overlap in a series of close readings of selected works by authors from Australia, New Zealand, India, China and Taiwan. It examines ‘not only how magical realism is a natural ally of environmental literature but also why magical realism is a dynamic, constantly evolving narrative mode that can address the challenges of imagination posed by the crisis of climate change’ (8–9).' (Introduction)
[Review] Climate and Crises : Magical Realism as Environmental Discourse Antonio Jose Simoes Da Silva , 2020 single work
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 20 no. 1 2020;

— Review of Climate and Crises : Magical Realism as Environmental Discourse Ben Holgate , 2019 multi chapter work criticism
'Ben Holgate’s Climate and Crises: Magical Realism as Environmental Discourse (2019) makes an important contribution to scholarship on the interplay between culture and society, with a distinct focus on the representation of the effects of human occupation of the natural world. It is a work of outstanding scholarship, meticulously researched and attentive to each novel’s distinct cultural, political and aesthetic frameworks. Although he disputes its central premise, Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016) both impels and haunts Holgate’s thinking. Ghosh lamented novelists’ failure to recognise and address the impact of climate change. In words quoted in Holgate, he wrote: ‘the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture and a crisis of imagination.’ Where Holgate’s thinking differs is in his view that while this may the case with ‘the conventional realist structure of the British, European or American novel’ (6), ‘magical realist fiction and environmental literature have a long tradition of overlapping’ (1). This study is concerned with examining that overlap in a series of close readings of selected works by authors from Australia, New Zealand, India, China and Taiwan. It examines ‘not only how magical realism is a natural ally of environmental literature but also why magical realism is a dynamic, constantly evolving narrative mode that can address the challenges of imagination posed by the crisis of climate change’ (8–9).' (Introduction)
Last amended 30 Jul 2020 11:15:19
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