Tasmanian gothic

Tamanian gothic

GOTHIC LITERATURE IS A LITERARY STYLE THAT FOCUSES ON THE SUBLIME; OR, THE INDESCRIBABLE FEAR AND PLEASURE OF HORROR. IT DOES THIS BY EXAMINING THE TRANSGRESSIVE, THE TABOO, AND THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF THE LANDSCAPE OF THE EARTH ITSELF.

It has often been the refugee of writers on the outside - women, LGBT people, and Irish authors were all among the founders of the genre, throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Perhaps they understood being outsiders best.

“There is something at work in my soul which I do not understand”, wrote the bisexual twenty year old Mary Shelley in her 1818 novel Frankenstein - the famous story of a creature who is given life against his will and then rejected by all humanity, but seeks only to be loved.

Tasmanian gothic is a genre that transports these tropes to our own landscape. The gnarled trees of Transylvania or Styria are substituted for the rainforests and peaks of Tasmania; the wild North Sea is substituted by our own Bass Strait, and gothic castles are replaced by towering, ruined penitentiaries.

In Tasmania there is a dark history we all contend with. A history of war, enslavement, horrific abuse, and discrimination. Tasmanian gothic is a way for writers, and their readers, to contend with it all and come to grips with the shadow that pervades the history of the landscape we live in

Tasmanian gothic is not the only way to process these complex emotions. It is however, one that has struck a note for me. It is too easy to make Tasmania out to be a slideshow of horrific events. As LGBT people, there is a painful past for us to come to terms with.

When people think of gothic, they may only see the shadowy vampires and ruined castles. But gothic literature is fundamentally romantic. It requires belief in love and hope and it has a way of dealing with the darkness, and revealing something more. The hero often unveils the shadow and by grappling with the things others have refused to address, perhaps bringing some light to the topic.

If gothic literature allows us to examine the human soul, then Tasmanian gothic examines the soul of Tasmania.

Isaac’s top three suggestions for anyone wanting to explore Tasmanian gothic:

Sing Fox to Me by Sarah Kanake

The Hunter - 2011 movie

The Alphabet of Light & Dark by Danielle Wood