Peter Marks is Associate Professor of English at the University of Sydney. His most recent books are <i>British Film Makers: Terry Gilliam</i> (2009), <i>George Orwell the Essayist: Literature, Politics and the Periodical Culture</i> (2011), and (as editor) <i>Literature and Politics: Moving the World in Certain Directions</i> (2012). His research interests include literary and cinematic utopias and dystopias and
the way they represent and investigate ecological questions. These works are intimately concerned with the intricate, often problematic relations between natural and built environments. Inherently speculative and provocative, they offer hopeful visions and timely warnings about the shape of things to come.