Trollope Down Under: Representations of bushfires and wildfires in 19th-century settler literature
Channel: The Dickens Project
Date: 2023-01-09

"The three sessions will offer the Friends a chance to examine Victorian responses to the environment, with a particular emphasis on Australia. The first session will involve a presentation on my current research, which is on representations of bushfires and wildfires in nineteenth-century settler literature. The project is informed by the environmental humanities and emotions theory, and I’ll talk a little about these approaches. As part of this session, I will introduce some of the work I’ve done on Anthony Trollope’s travels (especially his representations of fire and environmental issues). We will also spend some time thinking about how Trollope positioned himself as a successor to Dickens, as both a novelist and travel writer. 

"The second and third sessions will discuss Trollope’s wonderfully melodramatic Christmas story Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874). The novella is set in Australia and draws on Trollope’s own experiences down under. It’s a remarkable work for the depth of emotions that it conveys and for capturing the uncanny and threatening qualities that settlers saw in the Australian bush. I have chosen Harry Heathcote because it presents an aspect of Trollope’s writing that is often forgotten. It also raises a number of fascinating issues, including migration, race, and climate change, which will, I hope, lead to some lively discussions."

Grace Moore is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Otago, Aotearoa/New Zealand.  She is the author of 'Dickens and Empire' and 'The Victorian Novel in Context,' and her edited works include (with Michelle Smith), 'Victorian Environments.'  Grace’s most recent publication is a special issue of the journal 'Occasion,' entitled 'Fire Stories.'