Issue Details: First known date: 2007... 2007 A Beach Somewhere : The Australian Littoral Imagination at Play
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A remarkable array of late twentieth and early twenty-first century Australian novelists and short story writers have presented images of West Australian beaches and coastlines. These authors include Robert Drewe, Jack Davis, Randolph Stow, Peter Cowan, Dorothy Hewett, and Tim Winton. Their human dramas have a peculiar poignancy when played out against the natural elements of these Western coasts. Sexual, emotional, or spiritual crises occur in maritime settings that both enhance their memorability and reveal humanity's fragile hold on the continent. (abstract taken from The Littoral Zone)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Littoral Zone : Australian Contexts and Their Writers C. A. Cranston (editor), Robert Zeller (editor), Amsterdam : Rodopi , 2007 Z1422293 2007 anthology criticism

    'In this, the first collection of ecocritical essays devoted to Australian contexts and their writers, Australian and US scholars explore the transliteration of land and sea through the works of Australian authors and through their own experiences. The littoral zone is the starting point in this fresh approach to reading literature organised around the natural environment - rainforest, desert, mountains, coast, islands, Antarctica. There's the beach, where sexual and spiritual crises occur; the Western Australian wheatbelt; deserts, camel trekking, and the transformation of a salt flat into an inland island; New Age literature that 'appropriates' Aboriginal culture as the healing poultice for an ailing West; a re-examination of pastoralism; an inquiry into whether Judith Wright's work can "persuade us to rejoice" in the world; the Limestone Plains, home of the bush capital and the bogong moth; tropical North Queensland; national parks where "the mountains meet the sea"; temperate islands, with their history of sealing, Soldier Settlement, and sea country pastoral; and Antarctica, where a utopian vision gives way to an emphasis on its 'timeless' icescape as minimalist backdrop for human dramas. The author-terrain includes poets, playwrights, novelists, and non-fiction writers across the range of contexts constituting the littoral zone of 'Australia'.'

    Source: Rodopi website, http://www.rodopi.nl
    Sighted: 28/08/2007

    Amsterdam : Rodopi , 2007
    pg. 31-44
Last amended 1 Mar 2018 12:38:06
31-44 A Beach Somewhere : The Australian Littoral Imagination at Playsmall AustLit logo
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