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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
This novel is set in an apocalyptic world many years into the future of Australia. Young Nat journeys along the vast reaches of the Darling River to search for his uncle, and is plunged into a grim and frightening world.
Exhibitions
12322488
11021082
21127565
19567105
Notes
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Dedication: The tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky - seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness. - Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
How Do We Define the Climate Change Novel?
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Climate Change Narratives in Australian Fiction 2014; (p. 33-40) 'How do we best define a climate change novel? Given the complexities of climate change, as a real, scientific and cultural phenomenon, global warming demands a corresponding degree of complexity in fictional representation. Recent popular debates here and overseas raise further questions about what exactly constitutes a climate change novel. Does a climate change novel need to be set in the present? Or set in the future? Set during the time of climate change and extreme weather events, and the associated food scarcity and water wars, or can it be well after that —such as George Turner’s iconic The Sea and Summer? Are these novels best framed in context of utopian studies and science fiction studies? Andrew Milner has contextualised The Sea and Summer in terms of understanding the history of Australian science-fictional dystopias. For him, science fiction, whether utopian or dystopian , is ‘as good a place as any’ for ‘thought experiments about the politics of climate change’. He rejects the widespread ‘academic prejudice in literary studies against science fiction dystopias’ arguing that science fiction cannot readily be assimilated into either high literature or popular fiction (as genre). ' (33) -
New World Orders and the Dystopian Turn: Transforming Visions of Territoriality and Belonging in Recent Australian Children's Fiction
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 32 no. 3 2008; (p. 349-359) Through the 1990s and into the new millennium, Australian children's literature responded to a conservative turn epitomised by the Howard government and to new world order imperatives of democracy, the market economy, globalisation, and the IT revolution. These responses are evidenced in the ways that children's fiction speaks to the problematics of representation and cultural identity and to possible outcomes of devastating historical and recent catastrophes. Consequently, Australian children's fiction in recent years has been marked by a dystopian turn. Through an examination of a selection of Australian children's fiction published between 1995 and 2003, this paper interrogates the ways in which hope and warning are reworked in narratives that address notions of memory and forgetting, place and belonging. We argue that these tales serve cautionary purposes, opening the way for social critique, and that they incorporate utopian traces of a transformed vision for a future Australia. The focus texts for this discussion are: Secrets of Walden Rising (Allan Baillie, 1996), Red Heart (Victor Kelleher, 2001), Deucalian (Brian Caswell, 1995), and Boys of Blood and Bone (David Metzenthen, 2003). -
Untitled
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 44)
— Review of Red Heart 2001 single work novel -
Untitled
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , November vol. 45 no. 4 2001; (p. 28)
— Review of Red Heart 2001 single work novel -
Untitled
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , November vol. 16 no. 5 2001; (p. 40)
— Review of Red Heart 2001 single work novel
-
Untitled
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , November vol. 45 no. 4 2001; (p. 28)
— Review of Red Heart 2001 single work novel -
In Short
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22-23 September 2001; (p. 19)
— Review of Roundabout at Bangalow : An Intimate Chronicle 2001 single work autobiography ; Red Heart 2001 single work novel -
Exploring Sources of Evil
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 20 October 2001; (p. 18)
— Review of Poison Under Their Lips 2001 single work novel ; Dark Wind Blowing 2001 single work novel ; Red Heart 2001 single work novel -
Untitled
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , November vol. 16 no. 5 2001; (p. 40)
— Review of Red Heart 2001 single work novel -
Untitled
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 44)
— Review of Red Heart 2001 single work novel -
New World Orders and the Dystopian Turn: Transforming Visions of Territoriality and Belonging in Recent Australian Children's Fiction
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 32 no. 3 2008; (p. 349-359) Through the 1990s and into the new millennium, Australian children's literature responded to a conservative turn epitomised by the Howard government and to new world order imperatives of democracy, the market economy, globalisation, and the IT revolution. These responses are evidenced in the ways that children's fiction speaks to the problematics of representation and cultural identity and to possible outcomes of devastating historical and recent catastrophes. Consequently, Australian children's fiction in recent years has been marked by a dystopian turn. Through an examination of a selection of Australian children's fiction published between 1995 and 2003, this paper interrogates the ways in which hope and warning are reworked in narratives that address notions of memory and forgetting, place and belonging. We argue that these tales serve cautionary purposes, opening the way for social critique, and that they incorporate utopian traces of a transformed vision for a future Australia. The focus texts for this discussion are: Secrets of Walden Rising (Allan Baillie, 1996), Red Heart (Victor Kelleher, 2001), Deucalian (Brian Caswell, 1995), and Boys of Blood and Bone (David Metzenthen, 2003). -
How Do We Define the Climate Change Novel?
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Climate Change Narratives in Australian Fiction 2014; (p. 33-40) 'How do we best define a climate change novel? Given the complexities of climate change, as a real, scientific and cultural phenomenon, global warming demands a corresponding degree of complexity in fictional representation. Recent popular debates here and overseas raise further questions about what exactly constitutes a climate change novel. Does a climate change novel need to be set in the present? Or set in the future? Set during the time of climate change and extreme weather events, and the associated food scarcity and water wars, or can it be well after that —such as George Turner’s iconic The Sea and Summer? Are these novels best framed in context of utopian studies and science fiction studies? Andrew Milner has contextualised The Sea and Summer in terms of understanding the history of Australian science-fictional dystopias. For him, science fiction, whether utopian or dystopian , is ‘as good a place as any’ for ‘thought experiments about the politics of climate change’. He rejects the widespread ‘academic prejudice in literary studies against science fiction dystopias’ arguing that science fiction cannot readily be assimilated into either high literature or popular fiction (as genre). ' (33)
Last amended 18 Jun 2019 10:06:07
Settings:
- Darling River, Far West NSW, New South Wales,
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