The Fool and his Inheritance single work   short story   science fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 1911... 1911 The Fool and his Inheritance
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Lone Hand vol. 9 no. 53 1 September 1911 Z589595 1911 periodical issue 1911 pg. 434-446
    Note: Sub-title: The More or Less Geological Story of the Last Man, and the More or Less Geological Reasons Why the Last Man Came to Be the Last Man.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon A Journalist and Two Bears James Edmond , Sydney : Platypus Press , 1913 Z422443 1913 selected work short story essay poetry humour horror travel Sydney : Platypus Press , 1913 pg. 45-65
    Note: With title: The Fool and His Inheritance : Being a Complete and Authentic History of the World, in Four Chapters

Works about this Work

Uncertain Futures : Climate Fiction in Australian Literature Jessica White , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
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.

Uncertain Futures : Climate Fiction in Australian Literature Jessica White , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
Last amended 24 May 2022 12:39:20
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