{"id":33448,"date":"2018-09-18T16:07:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T15:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/?p=33448"},"modified":"2026-03-02T11:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T10:29:42","slug":"the-anthropocene-in-british-and-australian-fiction-and-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglist.ffzg.unizg.hr\/?p=33448&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"The Anthropocene in British and Australian Fiction and Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

Course title: <\/strong>Anthropocene in British and Australian Fiction and Film
\nInstructor: <\/strong>Dr. Iva Polak, Assoc. Prof.
\nECTS credit: <\/strong>6
\n<\/strong>Language: <\/strong>English
\nDuration: <\/strong>Semester 4 or 6
\nStatus: <\/strong>Elective
\nEnrolment requirements: <\/strong>Introduction to English Literature 1 <\/em>and 2
\n<\/em>Course description:<\/strong> We will discuss cultural implications of the Anthropocene, a new geological era in which humans have become a geological force on a planetary scale to be reckoned with. Starting with Timothy Morton\u2019s claim that man is \u201cthe detective and the criminal\u201d (Dark Ecology<\/em>, 2016), we will consider a selection of British and Australian novels which fictionalise and project into the future a series of issues affecting the present climate and our planet: fossil fuel burning, global warming, decreased biological diversity, global population increase, climate refugees. The selected works use satire and irony, and since they are voiced from different cultural, ethnic and gender positions, they offer different recipes for avoiding\/surviving the end of the world.
\nObjectives : <\/strong>Students will get to know the implication of the new geological era and how it has influenced cultural production from the UK and Australia. <\/p>\n

Course requirements: <\/strong>The final grade is based on continuous assessment which includes regular attendance (max. 4 unattended classes), preparation for and participation in class discussions, and writing and timely submission of short written assignments (5 assignments, 800-1500 words per assignment). Assignments are written after the end of each topical unit. Students must receive the minimum passing grade for reach written assignment to successfully pass the course.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Weekly schedule
\nWEEK 1<\/strong>
\n– Wire Cutters,<\/em> 2015 (animated short); The OceanMaker<\/em>, 2018 (animated short); Brolga,<\/em> 2019. (short sci-fi feature film)
\nIntroduction into the Anthropocene (anthropos<\/em> vs homo<\/em>, Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene, anthropocentrism, post\/trans\/humanism, hyperobject, ecological thought…)
\n– Chakrabarty, Dipesh. <\/em>\u201cThe Climate of History: Four Theses\u201d
\n– Usher, Phillip John, \u201c Untranslating the Anthropocene\u201d
\nWEEK 2<\/strong>
\nAnthropocene fiction (ecology, climate, dystopia, genre hybridity)
\n– Ghosh, Amitav. The Great Derangement<\/em>
\n– Goodbody, Axel and Adeline Johns-Putra. “Introduction”
\n– Trexler, Adam. Anthropocene Fictions<\/em>
\nWEEK 3<\/strong>
\nJ. G. Ballard. High-Rise <\/em>(1975)
\nWEEK 4<\/strong>
\nHigh-Rise<\/em> (2015), dir. Ben Wheatley
\nWEEK 5<\/strong>
\nDiscussion about documentaries: The Age of Stupid<\/em> (2009), dir. Franny Armstrong, documentary; An Inconvenient Truth<\/em> (2006), dir. Davis Guggenheim, The End of Oil<\/em> (Netflix Explain series, 2021)
\nWEEK 6<\/strong>
\nSaci Lloyd. It’s the End of the World As We Know It<\/em> (2015)
\nWEEK 7<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Jeanette Winterson. The Stone Gods <\/em>(2007) <\/span>
\nWEEK 8<\/strong>
\nJeanette Winterson. The Stone Gods<\/em> (2007)
\nWEEK 9<\/strong>
\nAustralian fiction and film of the Anthropocene (ecology, climate, dystopia, genre hybridity) 
\nWEEK 10<\/strong>
\nDiscussion about documentaries: Fired Up<\/em> (Apri 2021, Four Corners), Weather Alert <\/em> (March 2018, Four Corners), and Digging In: Why powering a green future means more mines<\/em> (May 2022, Four Corners), What Coal Miners Think about Climate Change<\/em> (March 2022, Vice News)
\nWEEK 11<\/strong>
\nMireille Juchau. The World Without Us <\/em>(2018)
\nWEEK 12<\/strong>
\nAlexis Wright: The Swan Book <\/em>(2013)
\n– Polak, Iva. “Alexis Wright’s The Swan Book<\/em> (2013) – Indigenous Cli-Fi”
\nWEEK 13<\/strong>
\nAlexis Wright: The Swan Book <\/em>(2013)
\nWEEK 14<\/strong>
\nFinal discussion<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Reading list:
\nNovels<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>J. G. Ballard. High-Rise <\/em>(1975)
\nSaci Lloyd. It’s the End of the World As We Know It<\/em> (2015)
\nJeanette Winterson. The Stone Gods <\/em>(2007)
\nMireille Juchau. The World Without Us <\/em>(2015)
\nAlexis Wright. The Swan Book <\/em>(2013)<\/span><\/p>\n

Critical editions:
\n<\/strong>– Braidotti, Rosi and Maria Hlavajova (eds.) Posthuman Glossary<\/em>, Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. (terminology)
\n– Chakrabarty, Dipesh. <\/em>\u201cThe Climate of History: Four Theses\u201d, Critical Inquiry <\/em>35, 2009: 197-222.
\n– Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism,<\/em> Routledge: London and New York, 2004, Glossary (terminology)
\n– Ghosh, Amitav. The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable<\/em>, University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London, 2016. Selected excerpts: pp. 1-27, 68-73.
\n– Goodbody, Axel and Adeline Johns-Putra. “Introduction”, Cli-Fi: A Companion<\/em>, Alex Goodbody and Adeline Johns-Putra, eds., Peter Lang: Oxford, 2019: 1-18.
\n– Polak, Iva. “Alexis Wright’s The Swan Book<\/em> (2013) – I<\/span>ndigenous Cli-Fi”, Cli-Fi: A Companion<\/em>, Alex Goodbody and Adeline Johns-Putra, eds., Peter Lang: Oxford, 2019: 217-222.
\n– Trexler, Adam. Anthropocene Fictions: The Novel in a Time of Climate Change<\/em> (Under the Sign of Nature), University of Virginia Press, 2015, “Introduction: Contextualising the Climate Change Novels”.
\n– Usher, Phillip John, \u201c Untranslating the Anthropocene\u201d, Diacritics<\/em>, 44:3, 2016: 56-77. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Further reading (optional):
\n<\/strong>– Clark, Timothy. Ecocriticism on the Edge: The Anthropocene as a Threshold Concept<\/em>., Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.
\n– Hulme, Mike. Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity<\/em>, 4th Ed, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
\n<\/em>– Meneley, Tobians and Jesse Oak Taylor (eds). Anthropocene Reading: Literary History in Geological Times. <\/em>Penn State University Press, 2017.
\n<\/em>– Moore, Jason W. (ed.), Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History and the Crisis of Capitalism, <\/em>PM Press, 2016.
\n– Morton, Timothy. Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Existence,<\/em> Columbia University Press, 2016.
\n– Morton, Timothy. Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World<\/em> (Posthumanities), University of Minnesota Press 2013.
\n– Morton, Timothy. The Ecological Thought<\/em>, Harvard University Press (2010) 2012.<\/p>\n

All textual and audiovisual materials are available via cloud service.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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