AustLit

Braithwaite is interested in the use of language in texts with a post-nuclear setting and how through a number of techniques, 'language in the nuclear debate frequently encodes power relations whereby those who massage the conventional meanings of language attempt to influence others, often by promoting an ideological position which can be difficult for the reader to oppose' (35). Braithwaite closely analyses five texts, including The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody, which focus on the survival and personal development of the protagonist and/or central characters and in which language is presented as 'a means by which the central characters attempt to excercise power over the world in which they find themselves' (35). For Braithwaite, 'the fascination with language, names and meaning in post-nuclear fiction invites readers to examine how individuals perceive their own realities and how consensus reality can be both questioned and taken for granted' (43). Braithwaite asserts that 'the reader who realises this duality will be in a stronger position both to engage with the text and to examine the ideological positions (both overt and covert) which are being presented'(43).