Borders, identity and the question of Australia

Abstract

In this article I examine two recent works, The White Earth by Andrew Mc Gahan and The Secret River by Kate Grenville. The first explores the current preoccupation with borders, both external and internal, and the second is looking to move across them. A border can have both negative and positive connotations; as a mark of separation or, if used as a verb, the action of approaching or verging on another culture or environment. In Australia it has usually been defined negatively as an expression and focus of anxiety about invasion from outside but also of subversion from within. These assumptions can be explored through fiction, to the extent that it provides access to the unconscious, to what is otherwise unspoken and often unspeakable.