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Monika Stasiak Doctor of Philosophy

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Monika Stasiak Doctor of Philosophy Creative responses to uncertainty: the representation of environmental change themes within recent fiction by Monika Stasiak Thesis Submitted to Flinders University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 10 May 2018 DECLARATION ..................................................................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................................4 CHAPTER ONE: THE EVOLUTION OF LITERARY CRITICISM IN RESPONDING TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE SCENARIOS .............................................................................................9 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 9 The significance of environmental change for literary criticism ................................................................... 9 The relevance of literary criticism in an era of impending climate change ................................................. 11 Emerging issues for literary criticism of environmental change ................................................................. 14 Environmental concepts in Australian literary theory ................................................................................. 27 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................. 32 CHAPTER TWO: CLIMATE CHANGE FICTION ................................................................................................... 34 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 34 Why is it important to write fiction about climate change? ....................................................................... 35 The relationship between fiction, scientific data, and behaviour change ................................................... 36 The role of fiction in communicating about climate change: aesthetic or activist? .................................... 39 How do critics define and recognise realist climate change fiction? ........................................................... 40 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................. 48 CHAPTER THREE: DIFFERENT APPROACHES FOR WRITING ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ..................... 51 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 51 The importance of different forms in environmental discourse .................................................................. 51 Coming to terms with genre and nomenclature in non-realist fiction ........................................................ 52 Dystopian fiction ......................................................................................................................................... 55 Science Fiction ............................................................................................................................................. 60 Apocalypse .................................................................................................................................................. 64 Young Adult fiction ...................................................................................................................................... 67 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................. 71 CHAPTER FOUR: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................. 73 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 73 Causes of environmental change within the novels .................................................................................... 73 A ‘green’ agenda? ....................................................................................................................................... 74 Credibility and emotional impact ................................................................................................................ 75 Behaviour change and transformation ....................................................................................................... 77 Universality, globalisation and localisation ................................................................................................ 79 Values communicated through the novels .................................................................................................. 81 Hope ............................................................................................................................................................ 83 Structure ...................................................................................................................................................... 84 Point of view ................................................................................................................................................ 85 New Materialisms ....................................................................................................................................... 87 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................. 88 CHAPTER FIVE: PROCESS ANALYSIS - CREATING THE WIDENING GYRE ..................................................... 90 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 90 Practice-led research ................................................................................................................................... 90 Creating dialogue with readers ................................................................................................................... 91 Narratological analysis ............................................................................................................................... 97 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 104 REFERENCE LIST .......................................................................................................................................... 107 THE WIDENING GYRE ................................................................................................................................... 119 Declaration I certify that this thesis does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university; and that to the best of my knowledge and belief it does not contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text. Signed: Date: Acknowledgements My thanks to Associate Professor Rick Hosking, Dr David Sornig, Dr Gay Lynch, Dr Patrick Allington, and Dr Danielle Clode. Dr Danielle Clode has gone above and beyond. She is a role model for whom I feel extremely fortunate. Her encouragement, input, and unwavering support throughout, has made all the difference. Further thanks to my long-suffering family and friends. Introduction Climate change is widely regarded as one of the foremost threats to human survival. My research investigates how fiction writers explore the emotional impacts of physical changes in the environment. This exegesis discusses the representation of environmental change in recent Australian fiction across a range of styles, as well as providing a critical analysis of the scholarly literature on this subject. In addition to this exegetical analysis, my creative novella presents a personal exploration of these themes through an original literary artefact. In my novella A Widening Gyre, the main character grows to understand her own and others’ responses to environmental change through a range of character- and place- interactions across five chapters. I present varying responses to climate change in each character through exploring issues that contribute to personal meaning, identity, wellbeing, and resilience against the context of a changing physical environment. A Widening Gyre uses environmental change as a premise for investigating human uncertainty about the future. Milech and Schilo describe the exegesis as an opportunity to define a research question and investigate how other ‘artists, producers and theorists’1 have addressed that topic. My exegetical research therefore asks the initial question: how have other authors of fiction explored and represented emotional responses to environmental change? Muhlhausler and Pearce define the human exploration of environmental change issues, or environmental discourse, as ‘the linguistic devices articulating
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