tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post7307730441612166923..comments2024-01-24T18:56:58.635-08:00Comments on EXPLORING CULTURES: A Global Blog (all languages): Indian climate activist Amitav Ghosh ponders the 'unthinkable' in new grand essay on climate changeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-21005055863713437702016-08-05T20:33:08.307-07:002016-08-05T20:33:08.307-07:00It's sad Dr Ghosh wants to be proscriptive abo...It's sad Dr Ghosh wants to be proscriptive about what kinds of fiction should be deployed for talking about this subject.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-35506778703634043322016-07-30T19:53:25.074-07:002016-07-30T19:53:25.074-07:00It does seem that there are more authors writing a...It does seem that there are more authors writing about climate change subjects than imagined, but I agree with him in a way. First, novels are measured successfully by being great stories, no matter the subject. Second, most popular novelists even with a hint of climate change in their stories do not use the term climate fiction--they use literary or political or science fiction as descriptors for their own work. They do this because they are staying with familiar, known genres and know that the story is what will stay with their readers, first and foremost. It is not a new label to try to sway readers. If a political or scientific lesson follows, so be it, but that is not what will attract the reader at the get-go. Especially if the story is to convert or something, which may turn readers right off. I totally agree with you about nothing being wrong with science fiction--in that it can be literary if the author intends it. <br /> <br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-39824582125589241262016-07-30T19:52:58.523-07:002016-07-30T19:52:58.523-07:00Just came across this today. He says:
"Indee...<br />Just came across this today. He says:<br /><br />"Indeed, it could even be said that fiction that deals with climate change is almost by definition not of the kind that is taken seriously by serious literary journals; the mere mention of the subject is often enough to relegate a novel or a short story to the genre of science fiction. It is as though in the literary imagination climate change were somehow akin to extraterrestrials or interplanetary travel."<br /><br />With that statement, what about Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Kim Stanley Robinson, and so on and so on, many award-winning authors who tackle issues of climate change? Maybe they do not call their novels "climate fiction"--for their novels deal with other issues too that are seen in the mainstream as literary or political or science fiction. So what? Is something wrong with science fiction? I summon Ursula K. Le Guin who would argue it is socially and environmentally relevant to our times, our culture, and our imagination.<br /><br />I do agree that not one thing may be able to tackle climate change in the big picture. As has been posted here often with the idea of hyperobject, fiction that can give Big Inspiration is often fiction that must break down a huge idea to a something smaller that we can relate to.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-83809235355617546622016-07-25T23:09:49.369-07:002016-07-25T23:09:49.369-07:00USA edition pub date - September 22, 2016USA edition pub date - September 22, 2016DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-27553502446319962492016-07-25T23:05:37.136-07:002016-07-25T23:05:37.136-07:00Research @GenreResearch 9m9 minutes ago
.@fairt...Research @GenreResearch 9m9 minutes ago<br /><br />.@fairtrade_india @do_you_cli_fi_ @GhoshAmitav So: a genre makes a thing distinct, recognizable and THUS engaging. Genres are rhetorical.<br /><br />2 retweets 1 like<br /><br />Reply<br /><br />Retweet<br /><br />2<br /><br />Retweeted<br /><br />2<br /><br />Like<br /><br />1<br /><br />Liked<br /><br />1<br /><br /> <br /><br />More<br /><br /> <br /><br />Share via Direct Message<br /><br />Copy link to Tweet<br /><br />Embed Tweet<br /><br />Mute<br /><br />Unmute<br /><br />Block<br /><br />Unblock<br /><br />Report<br /><br /> <br /><br />Genre Research @GenreResearch 11m11 minutes ago<br /><br />@fairtrade_india @do_you_cli_fi_ @GhoshAmitav Thus what I comment on is the question concerning genre: They are always "engaged".<br /><br />1 retweet 1 like<br /><br />Reply<br /><br />Retweet<br /><br />1<br /><br />Retweeted<br /><br />1<br /><br />Like<br /><br />1<br /><br />Liked<br /><br />1<br /><br /> <br /><br />More<br /><br /> <br /><br />Share via Direct Message<br /><br />Copy link to Tweet<br /><br />Embed Tweet<br /><br />Mute<br /><br />Unmute<br /><br />Block<br /><br />Unblock<br /><br />Report<br /><br /> <br /><br />Genre Research @GenreResearch 12m12 minutes ago<br /><br /> <br /><br />@fairtrade_india @do_you_cli_fi_ @GhoshAmitav Genres are never seperate, they are always engaged in and depending on surroundings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-57706592146215385912016-07-23T21:12:38.488-07:002016-07-23T21:12:38.488-07:00"The rest are in the genre of sci-fi, with a ..."The rest are in the genre of sci-fi, with a berth reserved for<br /> 'cli-fi,' or climate fiction<br />http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/amitav-ghosh-the-great-derangement-climate-change/1/720002.html<br /> #CliFi Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-21000696022878759392016-07-21T00:40:13.796-07:002016-07-21T00:40:13.796-07:00discovered that there *are* cli-fi novels in India... discovered that there *are* cli-fi novels in India! A debut novelist named Nilesh Chogle wrote a cli-fi novel in 2015 and avail now at amazon.in for 199 Rs, titled ''Together with You Forever'' set during the 2005 Mumbai floods. This contradicts essayist Amitav Ghosh who maintains in his new book "The Great Derangement" out now in India and due to be released in USA in September that arists and novelists have *not* responded to the climate emergency we are in, either in the West or in the East, and Dr Ghosh, despite his expertise on all things literary, is so wrong. See Nilesh Chogle book details via Google: DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-10561020975968835572016-07-21T00:39:02.905-07:002016-07-21T00:39:02.905-07:00Joanna Lobo (@djoiiii) tweeted at 10:55 PM on Wed,...Joanna Lobo (@djoiiii) tweeted at 10:55 PM on Wed, Jul 20, 2016:<br /> ''An Indian man in the audience in Delhi at the Delhi Centre who's written a cli-fi book (love story) on the Bombay floods. 'Sir I want to give you the book, complimentary.' #amitavghosh<br /> (https://twitter.com/djoiiii/status/755778214434332672?s=03)DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-44253722833006572602016-07-18T21:50:18.567-07:002016-07-18T21:50:18.567-07:00THE RIGHTWING ARMY OF CLIMATE DENIALIST ATTACS ON ...THE RIGHTWING ARMY OF CLIMATE DENIALIST ATTACS ON DR GHOSH BEGAN TODAY ON TWITTER, July 18 and writes to this blog about why there are NO CLIMATE DENIALISTS IN INDIA and other ASIAN NATIONS:<br /><br />''Dear Sir,<br />There are no climate denialists in India because well, maybe because India and Taiwan and Japan are countries where people tend to believe in authority — the worst argument for anything — rather than thinking matters through for themselves on the basis of evidence. Sheeple, in other words. But how can one take anyone seriously who uses the term "denialist" for this issue? I have my doubts about the science in this matter and I am scientifically literate enough for those doubts to be taken seriously. To compare me to someone who denies that the Holocaust took place is not only insulting, it is intellectually dishonest, a cheap rhetorical ploy by those who really don't have the facts to back up their policy proposals (because no one does), which is what we're really talking about. These are, after all, people who deplore large carbon footprints while flying all around the world in private jets, who refer to carbon dioxide as a pollutant, ignoring its necessity for a little thing called photosynthesis.''DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-77430519429371644802016-07-18T21:47:58.851-07:002016-07-18T21:47:58.851-07:00THE RIGHTWING , this time a letter to this blog fr...THE RIGHTWING , this time a letter to this blog from USA book critic:<br /><br />"Hi Sir,<br />Exactly what are the climate denialists accused of denying? Certainly not climate change, since that would be tantamount to denying climate, which is characterized by a non-linear dynamic, otherwise known as a chaotic system, the nature of which is continuous change. It is also worth noting that whatever direction the climate is said to be taking at any given time — I am old enough to remember ''Newsweek'''s cooling world article, and yes it has been walked back since then — the solution to the problem is always the same: more power to government, that wondrous instrument of human advancement. I am unaware of Ghosh's scientific bona fides, but Henrik Svensmark, who co-authored The Chilling Stars, does actually run the Center for Sun-Climate Research at the Danish National Space Center. The earth is also actually a planet subject to forces governing the solar system. While it is obvious that human activity — indeed the activity of all organisms (ever see a major gypsy moth infestation?) — affect the environment, that such is the decisive factor driving climate. is best described as cosmic parochialism. I suspect Ghosh is just another bien-pensant." DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-7567996010630930182016-07-18T21:41:29.545-07:002016-07-18T21:41:29.545-07:00THE RIGHTWING ARMY OF CLIMATE DENIALISTS ATTACKS O...THE RIGHTWING ARMY OF CLIMATE DENIALISTS ATTACKS ON DR GHOSH BEGAN TODAY ON TWITTER, July 18 <br /><br />mick yellow (@my66) tweeted at 10:05 PM on Mon, Jul 18, 2016:<br /><br /> ''There isn't a single present weather-event that hasn't occurred over Earth's 4.5B-yrs;but there ARE Climate Crappers'' <br /><br />https://t.co/SvGkMYn4Hj<br /> (https://twitter.com/my66/status/755040894135341056?s=03)DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-68747256733289213082016-07-18T21:40:41.475-07:002016-07-18T21:40:41.475-07:00THE RIGHTWING ARMY OF CLIMATE DENIALISTS ATTACKS O...THE RIGHTWING ARMY OF CLIMATE DENIALISTS ATTACKS ON DR GHOSH BEGAN TODAY ON TWITTER, July 18 --<br /><br />Sachi Mohanty (@sachi_bbsr) tweeted at 10:03 PM on Mon, Jul 18, 2016:<br /> ''Writer dude thinks the Pope is going to help us with climate change. Good luck with that!'' https://t.co/Y3HZYzsMqz<br /> (https://twitter.com/sachi_bbsr/status/755040373953540096?s=03)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com