Johanna Bell's new book, Department of the Vanishing, blends poetry and archival elements to explore environmental decline and personal grief in a future marked by mass bird extinctions. Set in 2029, the story follows an archivist dedicated to preserving records of vanished species. The work draws on themes of climate crisis, challenging literary norms as discussed by Amitav Ghosh.
Johanna Bell, a Tasmanian Literary Award-winner, has released Department of the Vanishing, published by Transit Lounge Publishing for $34.99. Described as a verse novel in the spirit of Dorothy Porter’s The Monkey’s Mask, it innovates Australian eco-literature through a mix of documentary poetry, narrative verse, archival images, black-and-white photographs, redacted transcripts, and newspaper headlines.
The narrative centers on Ava, a 43-year-old archivist in 2029 at the Department of the Vanishing. She meticulously rebuilds lost avian species using fragments from scientific data, microfiche, and cassette tapes. The department's slogans, such as “Never Say Die!” and “Vanishing is our name but preservation is our game!”, contrast the era's environmental devastation. Before the Anthropocene, the source notes, “the air pulsed with birdsong,” echoing a D.H. Lawrence quote: “In the beginning, it was not a word but a chirrup.”
The Anthropocene, coined in 2000 to signify the “Age of Humans” amid climate change, habitat loss, and pollution, frames a world of major destruction. Though rejected as a geological term in 2024, it remains in use. In Bell's story, thousands of bird species have vanished due to bushfires, pesticides, wild cats, parasites, and climate impacts, leaving an eerie silence. Obituaries for birds like magpies, albatross, pelicans, pied oystercatchers, white-cheeked honeyeaters, silver gulls, and crimson rosellas highlight this loss.
Drawing on Amitav Ghosh's 2016 critique in The Great Derangement, Bell addresses how literary fiction has overlooked climate crises, relegating such stories to genres like fantasy and science fiction. Australian contributions include works by Robbie Arnott, James Bradley, Inga Simpson, Madeleine Watts, Tim Winton, and Charlotte Wood.
Beyond ecology, the book delves into Ava's personal grief over her father's childhood death, amid a strained relationship with her lover Luke and her dying mother. Bell acts as both author and detective, requiring readers to piece together clues in this non-traditional narrative. The result is a rewarding exploration of collective and individual mourning in a degraded world.