Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
School
School of Arts and Humanities
First Supervisor
Donna Mazza
Second Supervisor
Debra Dudek
Abstract
This thesis explores the concepts of entrapment and isolation as they relate to the Australian Gothic literary mode and coastal landscapes. It does so through a creative work, a novel entitled A Wreck of Seabirds, and an accompanying exegesis, which examines these concepts alongside the shift of the Gothic to Australian landscapes and ultimately to coastal settings, and their representation in fiction. It examines ways in which elements and tropes of the Gothic are utilized in Australian Coastal fiction, particularly through depictions and metaphors of entrapment and isolation. A Wreck of Seabirds is an Australian Coastal Gothic novel set in a small Western Australian town. It tells the story of two young adults, Briony and Ren, meeting and connecting with each other over their experiences of grief and loss. Both have lost a sibling and are struggling with being in a place that holds so many ghosts for each of them. The novel structure employs a non-linear timeline to layer this narrative with two others which tell the stories of Briony and Ren’s lost siblings. It highlights the characters’ connections to the coastal landscape, and a particularly Gothic sense of isolation and entrapment within this space. This thesis employed a Practice-Led-Research, Research-Led-Practice methodology in order to allow the creative process and theoretical and literary analysis to inform each other, and produce a work of fiction inspired and driven by an understanding of the Gothic mode and its elements. The accompanying exegesis explores the themes of isolation and entrapment in relation to Australian Gothic and coastal fiction, and reflects on the practice of writing the novel, detailing the connection between the writing process and the literary analysis used. Many critics have traced the importance of landscape and the anxieties pertaining the vastness of the Australian landscape in particular through the shift of the Gothic to Australian Gothic fiction, and this thesis aims to narrow the focus of this to the importance of coastal landscapes and the way Coastal fiction naturally lends itself to the Gothic mode. This analysis focuses on Australian Coastal texts with Gothic elements, including Robyn Mundy’s Wildlight, Amanda Lohrey’s The Labyrinth, Tim Winton’s Breath, Favel Parrett’s Past the Shallows and Catherine Noske’s The Salt Madonna. These novels are discussed in regard to their use of the themes of entrapment and isolation, a connection to the coastal landscape, and how they employ other key elements of the Australian Gothic mode. The creative work and exegesis ultimately seek to identify how isolation and entrapment are displayed in Gothic literature and how these themes, as well as elements of the Gothic mode, transfer over to Australian Coastal fiction to produce a style of creative writing that represents both the Gothic and a distinctly coastal setting.
DOI
10.25958/17wd-0s85
Recommended Citation
Olson, K. M. (2024). A wreck of seabirds: Entrapment and isolation within the Australian coastal gothic landscape. Edith Cowan University. https://doi.org/10.25958/17wd-0s85