Climate Crisis and Narrative Repair: Eco-Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Australian Writing

Abstract

This abstract examines the role of contemporary Australian literature in addressing the climate crisis through the lens of “narrative repair,” an eco-critical framework focused on healing the broken relationship between humans and the non-human world. It argues that Australian writers, uniquely positioned within a continent experiencing acute climate impacts and possessing deep Indigenous ecological knowledge, are crafting narratives that actively challenge anthropocentrism, colonial legacies of extraction, and the pervasive sense of eco-anxiety. By analyzing key texts – Tony Birch’s The White Girl (2019), Alexis Wright’s The Swan Book (2013), and Richard Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish (2001) – this study explores diverse strategies of narrative repair. Birch’s novel centres Indigenous sovereignty and care for Country as fundamental to climate justice, offering a model of relationality. Wright employs magical realism and cyclical time to disrupt linear, progress-driven narratives that fuel environmental destruction, emphasizing interconnectedness and resilience. Flanagan’s historical fiction exposes the deep roots of ecological exploitation in Tasmania’s colonial past, linking the violence against humans and nature. Collectively, these texts demonstrate how narrative repair operates by: centring marginalized voices and knowledge systems; reconfiguring narrative form and temporality to reflect ecological complexity; fostering empathy for non-human entities; and imagining alternative, sustainable futures grounded in responsibility and reciprocity. This eco-critical analysis reveals contemporary Australian writing as a vital site for cultural and ecological reparation, offering not just critique of the climate crisis but active pathways towards healing and renewed kinship with the living world.

DOI - https://doi.org/10.65525/SVUP.9788199392021.2025.44-57.