S.David, 2016/ore.exeter.ac.uk/eco-fiction: bringing climate change into the imagination

• this article talks about Ghosh’s structures its characters, of which climate is one, by the landscape of the Bengals. The author feels that Ghosh’s use of climate as a character with complexities while balancing the global climate process currently.

An archive of imagined worlds and futures: environmental speculative fiction of the 20th and 21st centuries/Younus, Z/Indiana University of Pennsylvania Proquest Dissertations 2021/28645975

• this focuses on speculative fiction and environmental problems caused by humans and how these problems appear in literature. The thesis talks about the real world context of climate in books such as these do while playing out in the real world. The author also discusses how authors like Butler and Ghosh declare the environment in their stories less than earth or less than humans.

etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/30824/Bulling-Cutting, Ashley 2021; dark mirror of water; spectrality in climate and hydro-fictions and museum of water. PHd thesis; University of Sheffield

• in this thesis the author leans heavily on speculative fiction, such as the Hungry Tide and Parable of the Sower to illustrate how like a character in the book, climate change is based on both fiction and non fiction and plays an important role in the world and in the books I listed.

In Ghosh’s novel, weather plays an important role to the point its even depicted as a character in the book. In the other novels we have read in class, what role does weather play? is the weather treated as a character by the other authors as Ghosh does in the Hungry Tide?

Bibliography:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexa-Weik-Von-Mossner-2/publication/269520259_The_Home_the_Tide_and_the_World_Eco-Cosmopolitan_Encounters_in_Amitav_Ghosh’s_The_Hungry_Tide/links/54986d2d0cf2eeefc30f977f/The-Home-the-Tide-and-the-World-Eco-Cosmopolitan-Encounters-in-Amitav-Ghoshs-The-Hungry-Tide.pdf

https://journals.openedition.org/angles/1175_A_Sea_Of_Violence_and_love: Precarity_Eco-fiction_And_The American_Factor_in_Amitav_Ghosh’s_The_Hungry-Tide/Maria-Sabrina_ Draga_ Alexandra

http://www.unishivaji.ac.in/uploads/journal/humanities/may18/final%20pdf%20%20Volume%2049.pdf#page=53/Ecological_Perspectives_in_Amitav_Ghosh’s_The_Hungry_Tide/Fulswange_Sunil_Uttam

https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/24331/Eco-Fiction:_Bringing_Climate_Change_Into_ The_Imagination/David, Sophia_06/24/16/

Since my paper is going to be about imagery and the role it plays in Ghosh’s Hungry Tides, the following is the bibliography to this point:

“Amitav Ghosh Where Is the Fiction about Climate Change.” www.theguardian.com, October 28, 2016. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/28/amitav-ghosh-where-is-the-fiction-about-climate-change.

Ben Lerner’s 10:04 is clearly a homage to a writer’s life in NYC. The main character, himself an author, basically has placed his life within the pages of this book taking us, the reader, through his adventures. He is the creative “type” who hangs around with other writers, and artists such as his girlfriend Alena who in this chapter started the “Institute for Totaled Art” in her own loft. Her fascination with the weird and the wonderful makes for an excellent read. Honestly she makes me chuckle simply because she reminds me of people in my every day life.

The main character seems to be dependent on the future. Throughout chapter III, he talks about how the future will be looking and how the world is ending. His focus appears to be “nit picky”, focusing on the sperm and fetishism, as well as the world to come (picture page 135). As the chapter continues, we see the main character as always focusing on Alex and providing us description of her desire to be a mother, drinking and her jobs. Alex’s main focus is her overpowering desire to become a mom.

“Because you believe, even though you’ll deny it, that writing has some kind of magical power”. I chose this quote before this explains the mindset of the main character. As with most writers they get lost in the story they are writing (or in his case, poems) and this is “magical” to them.

Storytelling by him is picturesque. The reader creates an image of what the author is trying to bring forth. This was so poignant when he was relaying the story to Alex about his grandmother and her death. I was so engrossed in the story I burst out in tears. His interest in the world is compelling but his unsuredness about being with Roberto and everyone else made me feel sorry for him. I honestly never felt that way about anyone.

At first reading the book 10:04 by Ben Lerner I felt it was a complicated piece of detailed words. It lacked movement, felt choppy, though animated as I was reading it. At times reading it I was lost simply because it moved from person to person and place to place as I felt disconnected. I found myself reading the pages numerous times simply to determine where I was, who was the narrator talking about and where were we in the context of the story. However, when I sat back and thought about it I realized it was a good example of third person narrative and was in fact compelling. I must admit though that the mention of the narrator having Marfan and his description of his medical condition while describing what he felt and was experiencing, was excellent. I really felt while reading it that his aorta was going to explode. The author’s descriptiveness made me feel like I was going through the exam for Marfan along with him. I felt sorry for him while reading it and tried to imagine how I would feel if I knew my aorta can burst at any time. Descriptions like the one below made me feel like I was being examined by the “beautiful doctors” as he was.

“They asked me to stand and proceeded to calculate the length of my arms and the curvature of my chest and spine and the arch of my feet…” 

The steadfast relationship the narrator has with Alex is prevalent throughout chapter 1. During any storm one would want to be with the person they feel the most comfortable with and thats what the narrator experienced. Though he and Alex have a “friendship” there is a deep comfort their between them. As the chapters progress we see the narrator at a gallery with friends, in a hospital with long time friends, and with others in different situations, as well as the narrator reliving his past memories from childhood. One understands that this reminds him of the past when he didn’t know he had a ticking time bomb in his chest. It feels to me like he’s trying to capture all the memories and moments in life that he can.