Alexis Wright’s “Vision Splendid”: Aboriginal Economics, Climate Justice, and a Gaian World Literature

Abstract

Alexis Wright is known for reshaping literary forms to better suit and present an Aboriginal worldview. Her work not only contains an inherently ecological perspective, but is also marked by a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which literature is imbricated with the nation and the economy. This essay traces the connections between Wright’s agitation for sovereignty and social justice, the creation of an Aboriginal economy, and the colonial legacy of climate change. It suggests that Wright’s fiction lays bare the anthropocentric nature of world literature in its current state and tables the prospect of a Gaian world literature.