Exploring the unique literary scene on a tiny island at the edge of the world...
Treasured for its huge and ancient wild spaces, the island state of Lutruwita/Tasmania is nevertheless part of a threatened planet, and with climate change intensifying at a terrifying rate, humans are desperately seeking solutions to preserve the environment. But what happens when our caretaking becomes a form of control? And how do we know when we've started playing God?
In her prize-winning novel, Every Wild Soul, author Katherine Johnson explores these complex questions by regarding our relationship with nature through the lens of science. Contrasting rewilding projects with attempts to bring back the thylacine, Johnson interrogates the risks of overprotection through the story of Min, an isolated young woman who lives on Maria Island with her watchful father. When a stranger appears in their midst, the safety of Min's beautiful, but nevertheless restricted world begins to break apart, and her father finds his authority challenged in this beautiful and evocative narrative that Shakespeare fans might find a little familiar.
Returning to the theme of AI, first examined on Remotely Lit by Charlotte Wood in Episode 2, Kate Kruimink and I express our horror for the rapid and unscrupulous encroachment of this unknown technology in our Topical Chat, and this episode's Cities of Lit Book Picks come from Madeleine at Fullers Bookshop, who pairs her local choice, Born Into This by Adam Thompson, with Endling by Maria Reva from Vancouver in Canada.(Liz has used Adam's book in her university teaching, and was so blown away by this second book recommendation that she bought a copy immediately... )
As always, find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.
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