Darkness Subverted

Aboriginal Gothic in Black Australian Literature and Film

By (author) Katrin Althans Series edited by Uwe Baumann Series edited by Marion Gymnich Series edited by Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp

Book cover: Darkness Subverted

Extent: 224 pages

Publisher: V&R unipress

Subjects: Literary Studies

Series: Representations & Reflections

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(February 2010)

ISBN: 9783899717686

6.46 x 9.69 inches

Price: $94.00

On back order

English summary: At the heart of the Gothic novel proper lies the discursive binary of self and other, which in colonial literature was quickly filled with representations of the colonial master and his indigenous subject. Contemporary black Australian artists have usurped this colonial Gothic discourse, torn it to pieces, and finally transformed it into an Aboriginal Gothic. This study first develops the theoretical concept of an Aboriginal Gothic and then uses this term as a tool to analyse novels by Vivienne Cleven, Mudrooroo, Kim Scott, Sam Watson, and Alexis Wright as well as films directed by Beck Cole and Tracey Moffatt. It centres on the question of how a genuinely European mode, the Gothic, can be permeated and thus digested by elements of indigenous Australian culture in order to portray the current situation of Aboriginal Australians and to celebrate a recovered cultural identity.

Dr. Katrin Althans, geboren 1978 in Gütersloh, ist zurzeit Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben am Englischen Seminar der Universität Münster.

  • By (author) Katrin Althans
  • Series edited by Uwe Baumann
  • Series edited by Marion Gymnich
  • Series edited by Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp