Social Reproduction at the End of Times: Jenni Fagan’s and John Burnside’s Degrowth Imaginaries

This article will explore how degrowth imaginaries inform the representation of social reproduction and environmental collapse in Jenni Fagan&#8217;s <i>The Sunlight Pilgrims</i> (2016) and John Burnside&#8217;s <i>Havergey</i> (2017). It will argue that the two novel...

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Main Author: Arianna Introna
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2019-05-01
Series:Humanities
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/8/2/104
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author Arianna Introna
author_facet Arianna Introna
author_sort Arianna Introna
collection DOAJ
description This article will explore how degrowth imaginaries inform the representation of social reproduction and environmental collapse in Jenni Fagan&#8217;s <i>The Sunlight Pilgrims</i> (2016) and John Burnside&#8217;s <i>Havergey</i> (2017). It will argue that the two novels deploy the trope of the end of times to frame the unravelling of the world-ecology that binds capital and nature together in the Capitalocene, according to Jason Moore. They suggest that this is what makes possible, and necessary, a re-organisation of social reproduction and of the patterns of energy consumption or generation with which this is entangled. The first part of this article will examine the metabolic rift with which <i>The Sunlight Pilgrims</i> and <i>Havergey</i> are concerned, while the second part will delineate the ways in which degrowth imaginaries frame the representation of reorganised forms of social (re-)production. Drawing on disability studies and situating <i>The Sunlight Pilgrims</i> and <i>Havergey</i> within the disciplinary framework of Scottish literature, I will continue to consider how Burnside&#8217;s and Fagan&#8217;s novels feature narratives of disability and the nation. These may come across as marginal to the plot but function as the foci through which the politics of the degrowth communities represented come to the fore.
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spelling doaj.art-6326e55da08c40dfacfd274d54f21d2d2022-12-22T00:50:06ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872019-05-018210410.3390/h8020104h8020104Social Reproduction at the End of Times: Jenni Fagan’s and John Burnside’s Degrowth ImaginariesArianna Introna0Division of Literatures and Languages, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UKThis article will explore how degrowth imaginaries inform the representation of social reproduction and environmental collapse in Jenni Fagan&#8217;s <i>The Sunlight Pilgrims</i> (2016) and John Burnside&#8217;s <i>Havergey</i> (2017). It will argue that the two novels deploy the trope of the end of times to frame the unravelling of the world-ecology that binds capital and nature together in the Capitalocene, according to Jason Moore. They suggest that this is what makes possible, and necessary, a re-organisation of social reproduction and of the patterns of energy consumption or generation with which this is entangled. The first part of this article will examine the metabolic rift with which <i>The Sunlight Pilgrims</i> and <i>Havergey</i> are concerned, while the second part will delineate the ways in which degrowth imaginaries frame the representation of reorganised forms of social (re-)production. Drawing on disability studies and situating <i>The Sunlight Pilgrims</i> and <i>Havergey</i> within the disciplinary framework of Scottish literature, I will continue to consider how Burnside&#8217;s and Fagan&#8217;s novels feature narratives of disability and the nation. These may come across as marginal to the plot but function as the foci through which the politics of the degrowth communities represented come to the fore.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/8/2/104Scottish literaturedegrowthpetroculturessocial reproductiondisabilitynation
spellingShingle Arianna Introna
Social Reproduction at the End of Times: Jenni Fagan’s and John Burnside’s Degrowth Imaginaries
Humanities
Scottish literature
degrowth
petrocultures
social reproduction
disability
nation
title Social Reproduction at the End of Times: Jenni Fagan’s and John Burnside’s Degrowth Imaginaries
title_full Social Reproduction at the End of Times: Jenni Fagan’s and John Burnside’s Degrowth Imaginaries
title_fullStr Social Reproduction at the End of Times: Jenni Fagan’s and John Burnside’s Degrowth Imaginaries
title_full_unstemmed Social Reproduction at the End of Times: Jenni Fagan’s and John Burnside’s Degrowth Imaginaries
title_short Social Reproduction at the End of Times: Jenni Fagan’s and John Burnside’s Degrowth Imaginaries
title_sort social reproduction at the end of times jenni fagan s and john burnside s degrowth imaginaries
topic Scottish literature
degrowth
petrocultures
social reproduction
disability
nation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/8/2/104
work_keys_str_mv AT ariannaintrona socialreproductionattheendoftimesjennifagansandjohnburnsidesdegrowthimaginaries