Each approaches the idea of new worlds from a different perspective. ![]() In my bookish travels, I’ve stumbled across four such narratives. I’m enjoying the challenge of making a home in this alien place, and I’ve been seeking stories of those who are also in a state of rebuilding-narratives of upheaval, adaptation and resilience. Some days being here feels like living at the edge of the world. The nearest capital city, Adelaide, is more than 2,700 kilometres (~1,700 miles) away. It’s warm enough to wear t-shirts in winter and the sunsets are like nothing I’ve ever seen every night they set the sky aflame. Even inland suburban gardens are full of sand. On a more hopeful and personal level, I’ve recently moved cities-started over in Perth, a place shaped by ocean, sky and desert. Looking back on the dystopian classics of the early-to-mid twentieth century-George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), Malcolm Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange (1962)-they seem rather quaint. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence, many still refuse to believe climate change is a thing because, like, it’s cold. The Internet has placed thousands of years worth of knowledge at our fingertips and put us in touch to expand and debate this information, but a large percentage of web traffic ( no one knows quite how large) is logging on for the porn and our forums, chat rooms and social media newsfeeds have become playgrounds for trolls. Politicians take luxury helicopters to party fundraisers while the people they govern are often denied basic services due to funding cuts. But log onto any news site and things look grim. On a macro level, our world is in a state of turmoil-we’ve developed mind-boggling technology (I can carry a WHOLE LIBRARY in my pocket!!!) and made huge medical and scientific leaps. This past month my reading has favoured the apocalyptic. I’ve been seeking out visions of our world destroyed and remade. ![]() Margot McGovern finds four reads that reimagine life as we know it.
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