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Monstrous Wounds: Crime, Environmental Catastrophe and Domestic Abuse in Jane Harper’s The Dry

Monstrous Wounds: Crime, Environmental Catastrophe and Domestic Abuse in Jane Harper’s The Dry Within the long history of Australian crime fiction, Jane Harper’s The Dry marks a significant moment in the emergence of what has been characterised as “outback” or “rural” noir. With its focus on the small regional community of Kiewarra, Harper’s narrative addresses a number of issues that impact rural communities, including climate change, domestic abuse and gambling. Weaving together a story set in the past and a story set in the present, Harper offers a compelling portrait of the moral and social impact of these issues on rural communities in ways that challenge simplistic assumptions about the limitations of genre fiction to engender empathy. While some have argued that only literary fiction can evoke the kind of empathy that enhances our experiences of the world, this article suggests this is not the case and that The Dry is a powerful and moving portrayal speaking to the effects of environmental catastrophe and domestic abuse within a genre that may appeal to a broad and receptive audience. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Australian Studies Taylor & Francis

Monstrous Wounds: Crime, Environmental Catastrophe and Domestic Abuse in Jane Harper’s The Dry

Turnbull, Sue
Journal of Australian Studies , Volume 47 (2): 13 – Apr 3, 2023
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN
1835-6419
eISSN
1444-3058
DOI
10.1080/14443058.2023.2165133
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Within the long history of Australian crime fiction, Jane Harper’s The Dry marks a significant moment in the emergence of what has been characterised as “outback” or “rural” noir. With its focus on the small regional community of Kiewarra, Harper’s narrative addresses a number of issues that impact rural communities, including climate change, domestic abuse and gambling. Weaving together a story set in the past and a story set in the present, Harper offers a compelling portrait of the moral and social impact of these issues on rural communities in ways that challenge simplistic assumptions about the limitations of genre fiction to engender empathy. While some have argued that only literary fiction can evoke the kind of empathy that enhances our experiences of the world, this article suggests this is not the case and that The Dry is a powerful and moving portrayal speaking to the effects of environmental catastrophe and domestic abuse within a genre that may appeal to a broad and receptive audience.

Journal

Journal of Australian Studies – Taylor & Francis

Published: Apr 3, 2023

Keywords: Outback noir; rural noir; eco-fiction; Australian crime fiction; empathetic engagement

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