Description
This thesis explores colonial Australian Gothic literature from a geocritical perspective in order to analyze the construction of time and space within a narrative and the relationship of these structures to the cultural history and identity of Australia. A geocritical approach provides insight into specific spatial patterns inherent to the Gothic mode, such as binaries and the transgression of borders or thresholds, as well as how perceptions of time and space in Australia's literature have evolved over the course of the country's colonial history. Hume Nisbet's short story "The Haunted Station" and Joan Lindsay's novel Picnic at Hanging Rock are used to exemplify how narrative spatial and temporal constructions reflect the surrounding ideological climate. Since both pieces incorporate two of the primary themes found in Australian Gothic fiction— nature and conflicts over land ownership—certain archetypal elements concerning the construction of space emerge that can be traced back to influential historical factors of the period. Empty space and the infinite are two such repetitive tropes that appear within the subgenre and relate directly to Australia's history of colonization. Analyzing Picnic at Hanging Rock and "The Haunted Station" through a geocritical lens reveals how these two themes are expressed within the texts' spatial and temporal structures, and how they ultimately relate to the country's formation of a national identity.
