AustLit

'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.