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Notes
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This work is in six numbered parts.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Alert, but not Alarmed : Emotion, Place and Anticipated Disaster in John Kinsella’s ‘Bushfire Approaching’
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Philological Quarterly , vol. 93 no. 3 2014; (p. 343-359)'This essay examines John Kinsella’s prize-winning poem “Bushfire Approaching.” Drawing on Brian Massumi’s work on anticipated disaster—in particular his attention to trauma-survivors haunted by “the smoke of future fires”—we analyze Kinsella’s treatment of debates surrounding climate change in Australia. Fire in ‘Bushfire Approaching’ is both symbolic and real, representing burning in the past, present and future. The poem’s articulation of place, space and time captures oppositions between the willed amnesia attributed to many fire survivors, along with a vision of a future punctuated by repeated climatic catastrophes. Deploying affect theory and close reading through an ecocritical lens, we interpret the bushfire as a signifier of the complex relationship between climate change and custodianship of the land. This approach situates Kinsella’s poetry within a broader discussion of the bushfire as a natural phenomenon, while we also consider the poet’s deep respect for fire and its role in Australian ecology.'
Source: Abstract.
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Alert, but not Alarmed : Emotion, Place and Anticipated Disaster in John Kinsella’s ‘Bushfire Approaching’
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Philological Quarterly , vol. 93 no. 3 2014; (p. 343-359)'This essay examines John Kinsella’s prize-winning poem “Bushfire Approaching.” Drawing on Brian Massumi’s work on anticipated disaster—in particular his attention to trauma-survivors haunted by “the smoke of future fires”—we analyze Kinsella’s treatment of debates surrounding climate change in Australia. Fire in ‘Bushfire Approaching’ is both symbolic and real, representing burning in the past, present and future. The poem’s articulation of place, space and time captures oppositions between the willed amnesia attributed to many fire survivors, along with a vision of a future punctuated by repeated climatic catastrophes. Deploying affect theory and close reading through an ecocritical lens, we interpret the bushfire as a signifier of the complex relationship between climate change and custodianship of the land. This approach situates Kinsella’s poetry within a broader discussion of the bushfire as a natural phenomenon, while we also consider the poet’s deep respect for fire and its role in Australian ecology.'
Source: Abstract.
Awards
- 2013 shortlisted Peter Porter Poetry Prize