Issue Details: First known date: 2017... 2017 Stolen Futures : The Anthropocene in Australian Science Fiction Mosaic Novels
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Commentators such as Naomi Klein (2016) and Kim Stanley Robinson (2015) have warned that a failure now to adequately address anthropogenic climate change is an act of intergenerational theft. So great are these man-made impacts the term Anthropocene has been suggested to delineate a new epoch in the planet’s history. Australian writers are using science fiction and cli-fi, or climate fiction, to examine possible conditions faced by future generations that reflect on our current approach to the phenomenon. This paper argues that the mosaic novel, in concert with a science-fiction approach, is particularly well suited to this task in its use of interlinked short stories as a reflection of the complex elements of global climate change. My mosaic novel, “Watermarks”, being written as part of my PhD in creative writing, is set in near-future Brisbane. It draws attention to what has been identified as a relatively neglected topic in climate fiction: mitigation (Clode and Stasiak, 2014; Jordan, 2014). “Watermarks” uses a bricolage method in its construction, which also has resonance for the amorphous, interwoven aspects of anthropogenic climate change. The book adds to the small canon of other Australian writers who have used the science fictional mosaic to present visions of future life in the Anthropocene: Sue Isle’s Nightsiders (2011); James Bradley’s Clade (2015); and Steven Amsterdam’s Things We Didn’t See Coming (2009).'

Source: Abstract.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Authorised Theft Papers : Writing, Scholarship, Collaboration The Authorised Theft Papers : Writing, Scholarship, Collaboration : Papers – The Refereed Proceedings Of The 21st Conference Of The Australasian Association Of Writing Programs, 2016 Niloofar Fanaiyan (editor), Rachel Franks (editor), Jessica Seymour (editor), Canberra : The Australasian Association of Writing Programs , 2017 20512298 2017 anthology criticism

    'The 21st annual conference of the AAWP invited writers and academics to respond to the idea that, as writers, we are engaging in a type of ‘authorised theft’. Over 100 delegates responded enthusiastically by presenting papers that straddled genres, disciplines, modes of expression, as well as languages and cultures. Panel topics included sociologies of writing, poetry and song, narrative and narrative modes, responses to pain and trauma, digital literature and the online space, memoir/biography and travel writing, identity and voice, oral storytelling and ways of knowing, as well as translation and cross-cultural encounters.'

    Source: Introduction.

    Canberra : The Australasian Association of Writing Programs , 2017
Last amended 16 Oct 2020 12:27:50
https://www.aawp.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Nahrung-J-_AAWP_2016_Stolen-futures.pdf Stolen Futures : The Anthropocene in Australian Science Fiction Mosaic Novelssmall AustLit logo
X