Duncan Bush's Welsh Petrofiction: Energy Transition and Neoliberalism in 'Glass Shot'
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Electronic versions
Documents
- Glass_Shot_IJWWiE_final_final_revised
Accepted author manuscript, 382 KB, PDF document
Duncan Bush’s novel 'Glass Shot', set in south Wales during the 1984 Miners’ Strike, registers the social effects of the final shift from a south Walian economy and community organised around the extraction of coal to one based on individual consumption and the servicing of oil-based products . I argue that the novel critiques the car as a symbol of a dangerous individualism that – through its attendant ideas about the backwardness of Welsh coal communities and the future-orientation of American petroculture – lays the ideological groundwork for the ‘breaking of the miners’ and the neoliberal economy that follows. By making this case, I hope to show how a petro-critical approach to Welsh literature can deepen understanding of our own energy history, and remind us, as we embark on a green energy transition, of the need to put community and social justice at the heart of any change.
Keywords
- Duncan Bush, Glass Shot, Welsh Writing in English, petrofiction, petroculture, energy transition, miners strike
Original language | English |
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Journal | International Journal of Welsh Writing in English |
Publication status | Published - 28 Mar 2025 |