The Sea and Summer

Abstract

George Turner’s The Sea and Summer (1987), also known as Drowning Towers (the title under which it was published in the United States), is mainly set in the mid-21st century, with three short chapters set very far into the future. In both cases, the narrative takes place in the Australian city of Melbourne. The primary line of plot is told to the readers through various characters’ perspectives, all interconnected. Many problems are negatively affecting society, namely the rising sea, caused by climate change. However, an even bigger aspect of the novel is class. Unemployment sits at ninety percent and few rich people are left - these are known as the Sweet. The poor and unemployed - the Swill - are packed into giant seventy-story tower blocks in the suburbs. The readers follow the lives of the Conway family, who once were Sweet, but fell into the Swill, after the father, the family provider, lost their job. It delves into topics such as class consciousness, the effects of global warming, and complex familial relationships. The secondary plot of the book, about “The Autumn People”, is set thousands of years into the future, featuring the ones who survived global warming and the rising of the sea, and now await the beginning of an Ice Age. The readers follow Andra, who wants to write a play about the “Greenhouse” people that once lived in the towers, and Lenna, a historian who wrote a book about the collapse of civilization - aptly titled “The Sea and Summer” – which is exactly the predominant portion of the actual novel.