George Turner’s ‘The Sea and Summer’ came out in 1988, a tale of Melbourne’s fall from grace. Did Melbourne ever fall from grace?
Yes, in this novel it did. Climate change is well set in. The characters are survivors of ‘a hectic culture of decay’. They try to fathom what made people believe sea level rise was a long way off, why they had said ‘not in my time’.
‘… helpless against I want, I want, as the earth’s resources were sacked to shore up the illusion of an endlessly expanding economy. Ideas and ideals flourished on the intellectual stock exchanges but stood not a chance against I want …’
The ‘Sea and Summer’ won the first Arthur C Clarke science fiction award. It’s worth picking up now. It’s a deliberation on dread of change and absence of leadership at the interface of individual and society. It’s a lament over failures of planning.