Unpunishable Crimes in Claire G. Coleman’s Futuristic Novel Terra Nullius

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Iva Polak https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3061-4380
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract (english)

Aside from being part of a vibrant corpus of Indigenous futurism, Claire G. Coleman’s novel Terra Nullius (2017) can also be analysed as an eco-crime novel. Indigenous Australian authors of this genre (e.g., Philip McLaren, Steven McCarthy, Nicole Watson) often anchor the source of criminal acts in the theft, loss and devastation of traditional lands, which provides their crime novels with a heightened awareness of environmental issues. The same applies to Terra Nullius. This is, however, a novel that successfully conceals its futuristic framework until halfway through. Equally, this successfully disrupts the usual postulates of crime fiction by shifting the reader’s attention from the usual “whodunnit” to the more elusive “whoizzit” mode of crime fiction. This, as the discussion reveals, means that the criminal acts in Terra Nullius are rendered unpunishable. This paradox, as it is argued, is strengthened by introducing the so-called “noir detective” (Timothy Morton) in the character of Father Grark, who cannot investigate that which constitutes the crime and the alibi shaping the world of Coleman’s futuristic novel.

• Keywords (english): Terra Nullius; Claire G. Coleman; eco-crime fiction; “whoizzit” mode; noir detective; Indigenous futurism
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Humanities
• Numbering: vol. 11, no. 2, 47
• e-ISSN: 2076-0787
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/h11020047
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:493223
• Publication: 2022-03-25
• Document URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/11/2/47
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2022-05-05 09:07:18