Swamp Gum

Abstract

This submission is divided into to two components: the thesis itself – Swamp Gum – and the exegesis. Swamp Gum is a seventy five thousand word creative work, designed to be read before the exegesis. It is a fast paced, multiple point of view ecothriller set during spring in the temperate rainforests of contemporary southern Australia. The principal goal of the work is to entertain, but it also aims to impart information as well as a critical message pertaining to the clear felling practices that threaten those forests. Swamp Gum follows a classic three-act structure and prescribes to the principal of rising action. Many of the passages are written in a colloquial Australian brogue, with the goal of enhancing the authenticity of the language. The exegesis – designed to be read after the novel – aims to complement Swamp Gum by discussing the work from an academic approach. The exegesis supplies a synopsis of the work, contextualises it within the ecothriller genre, provides the background information on which the thesis is based, and explores how the work operates as an ecocritical text.