Description
Delivered the below paper at an interdisciplinary conference.Writing the unthinkable: Sickness and enmeshment in ecological fiction
Abstract
How do we write the unthinkable? Ecological crisis represents a global and temporal trauma both in terms of physical space and psychological impact. This experience is so vast, so ‘uncanny’ that Amitav Ghosh posits an unthinkability at its core (32-33). Timothy Morton, conversely, suggests that by sinking deeper into the horror of this unthinkability, we enter a melancholy space that opens pathways to a non-human world (‘Tuning’, 29). It is there, they claim, that we will find the relationships and the understanding that allows humans to fully apprehend the damaged world we are reconnecting with.
Growing emphasis on thinking-with or knowing-with non-human lives marks a turn toward ecological thinking, defined by Morton in its simplest sense as the awareness that everything is connected (The Ecological Thought, 1). Literary expressions of this awareness, via Richard Powers, and Laura Jean McKay, for example, often use trauma or sickness (or both) as catalysts for ecological world views that propel both plot and reader to new ways of thinking. By placing a vulnerable human body within an injured ecological one, these devices are used as narrative frames and allegiances that highlight both human and non-human frailty and allow writers think-with the global and the individual simultaneously.
This paper explores sickness as frame for writing the unthinkable, and investigate its potential and limitations in mediating an individual body and mind within a global context of ecological crisis. By assessing representation of loss, sickness and recovery in a creative practice, it asks how human vulnerability might help create narratives of interdependence, collaboration and human humility. Ultimately, how might this lead to radical shifts in consciousness and different forms of cognition for fictional characters and, perhaps, readers?
| Period | 26 Jun 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Brisbane, Australia, QueenslandShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | National |
Keywords
- Creative Writing
- Ecocriticism
- climate change