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Notes
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Dedication: For John Foyster who gave sound advice.
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Epigraph: 'We must plan for five years ahead and twenty years and a hundred years.' --- Sir Macfarlane Burnett
Affiliation Notes
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Preppers and Survivalism in the AustLit Database
This work has been affiliated with the Preppers and Survivalism project due to its relationship to either prepping or prepper-inflected survivalism more generally, and contains one or more of the following:
1. A strong belief in some imminent threat
2. Taking active steps to prepare for that perceived threat- A range of activities not necessarily associated with ‘prepping’ take on new significance, when they are undertaken with the express purpose of preparing for and/or surviving perceived threats, e.g., gardening, abseiling.
- The plausibility of the threat, and the relative “reasonable-ness” of the response, don’t affect this definition. E.g., if someone is worried about climate change and climate disasters, and they respond by moving from a riverbank location in Cairns, or to a highland region of New Zealand, this makes them a prepper. If someone else is worried about brainwashing rays from outer space, and they respond by making a tinfoil hat, that makes them a prepper.
3. A character or characters (or text) who self-identify as a ‘prepper’, or some synonymous/modified term: ‘financial preppers’, ‘weekend preppers’, ‘fitness preppers’, etc.
As a tier two work, this text has been identified as key to prepping in a broader, more conceptual relationship. These texts have been classified as ‘key’ prepper-adjacent texts that are important to prepping, even if they themselves are not about prepping or do not include preppers. These texts have been identified in the database through various means such as interviews with preppers, scholarship on preppers, and online prepper forums.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille, sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Dystopic Optimism: A Duo Review
single work
review
— Review of The Sea and Summer 1987 single work novel -
Nostalgic Narrative and Affective Climate SF in George Turner's The Sea and Summer
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Science Fiction Studies , March vol. 48 no. 1 2021; (p. 109-123)'This paper explores how George Turner's The Sea and Summer utilizes nostalgic narrative to develop an affective attachment to the climate disaster and instigates, in its narrative, meaningful change. Through a consideration of Svetlana Boym's reflective nostalgia, the affective response the novel activates, and the affect created by Gothic tropes, I suggest that this combination produces an exemplary response. The narrative presents a frame story set in a distant future after the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet, and the bulk of the prescient climate sf novel is presented as a novelistic rendering of this pre-apocalyptic scenario. This combination allows the reader to consider the temporal scale, producing a medium scale, which allows the reader to grasp the complexity of the problem without being overwhelmed by its vastness. I argue that rather than exorcising our fears, such literary narratives can make the realities of climate change more present to contemporary readers.' (Publication abstract)
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'Dystopia' : A History of the Genre in (and) Australia
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Beyond the Dark : Dystopian Texts in the Secondary English Classroom 2020; (p. 8-34) -
Foreword
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Beyond the Dark : Dystopian Texts in the Secondary English Classroom 2020; (p. viii-x) -
Anthropocene and the End of the World : Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Other Disasters
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Anglophone Literature and Culture in the Anthropocene 2019; (p. 158-175) Analyses a series of Australian novels in terms of their dystopian approach to climate change.
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Untitled
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: The Good Reading Guide 1989; (p. 257)
— Review of Transit of Cassidy 1978 single work novel ; The Sea and Summer 1987 single work novel -
All Washed up in Bleak Tomorrows
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 20 February 1988; (p. B2)
— Review of The Sea and Summer 1987 single work novel -
Goodbye Lucky Country
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , March no. 110 1988; (p. 83-84)
— Review of The Sea and Summer 1987 single work novel -
From the SF Orbit
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Book Magazine , Autumn vol. 1 no. 4 1988; (p. 10)
— Review of The Sea and Summer 1987 single work novel -
A Novel to be Read before High Tide
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 16 January 1988; (p. 10)
— Review of The Sea and Summer 1987 single work novel -
A Letter from George Turner
2002
single work
column
— Appears in: Science Fiction : A Review of Speculative Literature , vol. 16 no. 2 (Issue 44) 2002; (p. 25-26) -
Postcolonial Criticism, Ecocriticism and Climate Change : A Tale of Melbourne under Water in 2035
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Postcolonial Writing , March vol. 45 no. 1 2009; (p. 15-26) The difficulty that postcolonial critics have found in opposing the recent, aggressive phase of capitalism known as 'globalization' has led to a crisis in relevancy in the discipline. Engaging with ecocritical discourses is one way to overcome this crisis. Some postcolonial poets and writers are already working in this way, and although historically ecocriticism has posed problems for postcolonial critics, the changes that ecocriticism has recently undergone mean that such concerns are fading. An area of study that is especially promising for postcolonial critics is analysing apocalyptic dystopias that speculate on the dire social and physical consequences of global warming. Taking a text by a leading Australian author as an example, this article argues that criticism that combines postcolonial and ecocritical concepts is able not only to expose late capitalism's crucial role in global warming but also to show readers that the political choices they make now will have lasting consequences for the lifestyles of coming generations. -- Author's abstract -
Judith Buckrich in Conversation with George Turner
Judith Raphael Buckrich
(interviewer),
1995
single work
interview
— Appears in: Eidolon : The Journal of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy , Summer no. 16 1995; (p. 43-55) SF Commentary : The Independent Magazine About Science Fiction , no. 76 2000; (p. 114-119) George Turner discusses his literary themes and writing methods. -
The Fiction of the Future : Australian Science Fiction
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Sold by the Millions : Australia's Bestsellers 2012; (p. 128-140) 'According to Russell Blackford 'commercial science fiction is the most international of literary forms.' He observes that 'Australian SF continues to flourish, even if it trails heroic fantasy in mass-market appeal.' Australian SF writers although published internationally, with a dedicated fan followings in USA, UK and Europe, were overlooked for a very long time by Australian multinational publishers. The international editions had to be imported and were then distributed in Australia (Congreve and Marquardt 8). Blackford in his chapter throws light on the history of Australian SF and observes how Australian SF writers, with their concern for the future, achieved a powerful synthesis in form and content. The progress of Australian SF, maturity of style in the work of younger writers, and massive worldwide sales make Blackford optimistic as he asserts that 'the best Australian writers in the genre will be prominent players on the world stage.' (Editor's foreword xii-xiii) -
Morals, Ethics, and Viewpoints
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Chained to the Alien : The Best of Australian Science Fiction Review 2009; (p. 52-69)
Awards
- 1988 shortlisted Ditmar Awards — Best Novel
- 1988 winner Commonwealth Writers Prize — South-East Asia and South Pacific Region — Best Book from the Region Award
- 1987 winner Arthur C. Clarke Award (US)
- Urban,
- Melbourne, Victoria,
- Asia,
- Newport, Newport - Williamstown area, Melbourne - West, Melbourne, Victoria,
- 2040s
- 2050s
- 2060s