26 September 2023

Hollow Earth

Start the conversation

Reviewed by Rama Gaind.

By John Kinsella, Transit Lounge, $29.99.

In the light of present havoc wreaked by Mother Nature in Australia, this read is confronting.

Intricate and yet somehow compelling tale of Hollow Earth is written as a protest to the destruction caused on earth. We are the ones, so-called learned, high IQ race of peoples, who go about destroying what was once a far more pristine and beautiful place called earth.

This is an extraordinary adventure. Manfred has been fascinated by caves and digging holes since childhood. Then he discovers a path through to another realm via a Neolithic copper mine at Mount Gabriel in Schull, Ireland. The world of Hollow Earth, while no Utopia, is a sophisticated civilisation. Its genderless inhabitants are respectful of their environment, religious and cultural differences are accommodated without engendering hate or suspicion, and grain, not missile silos are built. Yet Ari and Zest accompany Manfred back to the surface world. ‘Come with me and see my world.’

As the three wander the earth, an extraordinary adventure begins. They’re like Virgil’s Aeneas, Ari and Zest seeking re-entry to their own world. The Hollow Earthers are shocked at the cruelty and lies of the surface world, the dieback spreading through the forests. Yet they are seduced by the world’s temptations.

Kinsella’s “parable draws on a rich tradition of Hollow Earth literature and science fiction including Bradshaw’s The Goddess of Atavatabar (1892). With strange beauty, its alluring trajectory vividly captures our 21st-century world in crisis. Like Manfred, we are often blindly complicit in the earth’s downfall. ‘Happiness is under our feet.’ sings the narrator in this passionate, layered and compelling new novel”.

Kinsella’s first science fiction novel is “for the believers”. It tests “… self-scrutiny which also manages to be outrageous fun”.

Start the conversation

Be among the first to get all the Public Sector and Defence news and views that matter.

Subscribe now and receive the latest news, delivered free to your inbox.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.