Capitalocene Dreams: Dark Tales of Near Futures
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School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry Capitalocene Dreams: Dark Tales of Near Futures & The 21st Century Catastrophe: Hyper-capitalism and Severe Climate Change in Science Fiction Catriona Margaret Mullineaux Sparks This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University October 2018 Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signature…………….. Date……………… 2 Abstract This thesis investigates the research question: What is the role of speculative fiction in a climate changed world? The research investigation consists of two parts: the short story collection: Capitalocene Dreams: Dark Tales of Near Futures and the exegesis: The 21st Century Catastrophe: Hyper-capitalism and Severe Climate Change in Science Fiction. Science fiction emerged in the nineteenth century as an amalgamation of multiple strands of converging popular literature developing alongside western technological progress and imperialist expansion. Born of industrialisation, science fiction literature is deeply engaged with the impacts of scientific, technological, political and social change, reflecting societal anxieties of its time. Identifying capitalism as the engine driving severe climate change on Earth, Capitalocene Dreams explores life on the fringes of disintegrating Australian enclaves during the dying days of neoliberal excess, an unstable near future landscape in which humanity is forced to face up to the consequences of its collective lack of action. These are speculative fictions; deliberate fusions of science fiction and climate fiction; cautionary tales reflecting mechanisms of corporate culture running amok, with humanity infected and ‘civilisation’ set upon a blind trajectory to annihilation. The stories evolve incrementally from science fiction into fantasy; edges blurred as our systems become irreversibly contaminated with threats of obsolescence. Glimmers of hope manifest in glimpses and suggestions of emerging, post-natural landscapes; whispered promises that through resilience, new baselines and new cultures will inevitably evolve. The accompanying exegesis, The 21st Century Catastrophe: Hyper-capitalism and Severe Climate Change in Science Fiction, examines key cultural concerns of the sixties and seventies as expressed through ecocatastrophe science fiction: overpopulation, pollution, resource depletion and contamination, considering that, despite sophisticated literary efforts, science fiction’s cautionary tales were rendered ineffective, diffused by genre cringe and prejudice, dismissed as mere entertainment. This is contrasted with contemporary climate fiction, written with the presumption that the processes leading to resource depleted, climate ravaged futures are already inexorably in motion. Anthropocene fiction is pushing beyond its origins as a subgenre of science fiction, evolving into a bold new genre responding directly to looming environmental crisis, laying the foundations for new literatures to emerge alongside new technologies, new attitudes, new social ecologies and new hope. 3 Acknowledgements A room party at a science fiction convention might not be the most usual place to get inspired into undertaking a PhD, but that’s what happened at Swancon 2011, where fate saw me situated at the far end of a crowded room amidst a cluster of Aussie spec-fic academics. Big thanks to Helen Merrick for initiating, guiding and supervising me through the project that was to dominate my life across the coming years—and in its own way, change everything. Thanks to Curtin University for scholarships and support through difficult personal and unforeseen circumstances. Thanks are also due to Sean Williams, Angela Slatter, James Bradley, Rose Michael, Liz Grzyb, Russell B Farr, Amanda Rainey, Thoraiya Dyer, Jonathan Strahan, Gary K. Wolfe, Cheryl Pientka, David Whish-Wilson, Farah Mendlesohn, Edward James and so many other friends and colleagues for various bits of help, advice or encouragement along the way. Big thanks to supervisor Matt Chrulew—Mate, I could not have gotten this far without you. And finally, enormous love and thanks to my partner Robert Hood, who has suffered horribly during the last twelve months as I wrestled this beast into submission. 4 Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................4 Capitalocene Dreams: Dark Tales of Near Futures.....................................7 Prayers to Broken Stone....................................................................................9 Hot Rods ...........................................................................................................22 Before Dominica ..............................................................................................39 Dreams of Hercules .........................................................................................49 And the Ship Sails On......................................................................................68 You Will Remember Who You Were...............................................................99 The 21st Century Catastrophe: Hyper-capitalism and Severe Climate Change in Science Fiction ...................................................125 Introduction..............................................................................................................127 Mimetic or Speculative?................................................................................129 Chapter 1: What is Speculative Fiction?..............................................................132 Dystopia, Climate and Anthropocene Fiction............................................136 Why Short Fiction? ........................................................................................140 My Own Fiction .............................................................................................143 The Historical Roots of Ecocatastrophe: Change and Crisis....................144 Origins of Ecological Science Fiction..........................................................146 The Dangers of Progress in Nineteenth-Century SF..................................148 Environmental Anxieties in Early Twentieth-Century SF............................152 Eco-Fiction Since the 1960s .........................................................................156 Reading and Writing Climate Fiction Today ..............................................160 Chapter 2: Ecocatastrophe SF of the 1960s and 1970s ...................................165 ‘The Cage of Sand’ by J.G. Ballard ..............................................................170 ‘Roommates’ by Harry Harrison ...................................................................174 ‘Windmill’ by Poul Anderson ........................................................................182 ‘The New Atlantis’ by Ursula K. Le Guin ......................................................187 Chapter 3: Contemporary Climate Fiction ..........................................................195 ‘Shooting the Apocalypse’ by Paolo Bacigalupi ........................................199 ‘The Future is Blue’ by Catherynne Valente ................................................204 ‘An Incomplete Timeline of What We Tried’ by Debbie Urbanski ...........210 ‘Sunshine State’ by Adam Flynn and Andrew Dana Hudson ...................215 5 Conclusion: From Ecocatastrophe to Anthropocene Fiction — Full Circle or New Terrain? .................................................................................223 Ecocatastrophe vs Anthropocene ...............................................................226 Bibliography ..........................................................................................................231 6 Capitalocene Dreams: Dark Tales of Near Futures 7 8 Prayers to Broken Stone1 1. Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams The apartment is musty. No one has been in here for a very long time. Arpita tugs the curtains, letting in a blast of light. To do so is permitted, on the list of things she is allowed to and supposed to do. Dusty boxes in need of unpacking clump together against a plain cream wall. The box cutter is in the drawer where they said it would be. Everything is always exactly where the voice on the phone says it will be. Old furniture belonging to a different era. Ancient hardwood, stained, too ugly to be valuable. She wasn’t allowed to bring the notes she’d scribbled when they called. They expect her to memorise ordinary lists of ordinary-sounding tasks, but nothing is ordinary about this job or this place. Arpita slits tape, unpacks each box slowly and thoughtfully, examining every object in case it is more than it seems: long-life milk, tea bags in packets of 100, slim rectangular tubes of coffee pods. The coffee machine on the grey marble bench top looks like it has never been used. Two double beds in separate rooms with mismatched sets of sheets. She’s surprised by the wardrobe in the master bedroom: an ancient monstrosity with large, dark keyholes, wafting smells of naphthalene and tennis shoes. One much like it stood in the grand Bengali mansion where Aunt Laksha worked. Aunt