Doggerland

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A breathlessly exciting account of the storm itself very nearly eclipses it in terms of memorability, making it very difficult to choose a highlight in this deftly constructed novel. As some of you may know I am currently undertaking a creative writing PhD with the catchy title Navigating the mystery of future geographies in climate change fiction. I can't remember who to blame for The Infinite and the Divine, but I know I was talking to someone about it - speak up if you think it was you! The novel takes its name from the ancient piece of land that once connected Great Britain to the rest of Europe. He examines evidence of Doggerland’s high-temperature technology, showing how its people were able to melt solid rock to create vitrified structures far stronger than concrete, a technique that modern science cannot replicate.

These claustrophobic, contained lives are reminiscent of Beckett or perhaps Pinter … The prose is simple, at least on the surface, but the cadence of the sentences, their honed style, is perfectly matched to its barren, sinister setting. I accept that frustrating his readers may have been an intentional choice but for me, despite it being a thought-provoking story, Doggerland’s lack of progression and character development means it’s a novel I will likely only read once That being said I would never discourage anyone from reading the novel and drawing their own conclusions. Ben Smith lives in Cornwall and is a lecturer in creative writing at Plymouth University, specializing in environmental literature and focusing particularly on oceans, climate change and the ‘Anthropocene’. He had knotted and unknotted a strap on the bag he was holding – he must have been leaving to go out to the farm that day.Smith tells a good story and sets it in a frame that leaves it to the reader to pick up the peripheral context of climate, corporate and environmental catastrophe as well as the proven fragility in humanity’s stewardship of the world. On the one hand, they may meet Nikoleris et al’s aims in giving the reader compelling individuals facing complex dilemmas whose plight generates empathy (and so promotes reflection on climate change). Doggerland is the name given in the 1990s to an area of land, now submerged beneath the North Sea, which connected Great Britain to Continental Europe. For instance, we are told that the Boy was sent on the rig to replace his father, after the latter’s unsuccessful escape attempt.

Exploring the latest archaeological findings and recent scientific analysis of Doggerland’s underwater remains, Graham Phillips shows that this ancient culture had sophisticated technology and advanced medical knowledge. Soon, stone circles echoed once more with the chanting of ancient rituals and menhirs were again bedecked with wildflowers and presented with offerings of honey and blood. At the end of the last Ice Age, the first modern humans also left their traces here, including the famous Leman-and-Ower-Banks spearhead – the first documented Doggerland find – and some of the oldest art in the region.It mirrors not only the back and forth they have between each other in their conversations and general behaviour towards one another, but also the larger struggles they’re each facing wordlessly. Phillips does a great job of showing the connections between the mythic megalithic culture we have dreamed about for many centuries and one we had long forgotten but which may be the true homeland of the British people. Revealing the vast archaeological evidence in support of the existence of Doggerland, as well as its threads of influence in early cultures around the world, Phillips also shows how the fate of this sophisticated ancient culture is a warning from history: the cataclysmic events that happened to the first civilizations could happen again as the world heats up.

Their maintenance work involves an endless stream of small tasks, but they’re hampered by insufficient supplies and outmoded technology like satnav and tablets.

As an academic, he specialises in environmental literature focusing particularly on oceans, waste and the ‘Anthropocene’, relating to human impact on geology.