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“The Whole Island is a Jail and We the Warders” : States of Exception in Tasmanian Historical Fiction

Turner, Ellen LU (2019) In Commonwealth Essays and Studies 42(1).
Abstract
Looking at two historical romances by women writers, Kathleen Graves’ Exile: A Tale of Old Tasmania (1945) and Isabel Dick’s Wild Orchard (1946), this article seeks to examine narratives of an early nineteenth-century Van Diemen’s Land that are apparently at odds with the 1940s Tasmania it was to become. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s “state of exception” as the theoretical underpinnings for this essay, I read both the nineteenth- and twentieth-century island as a site for the proliferation of bare life whereby the whole of society finds itself defined by its prison-like capacity to strip individuals of their right to life. In telling these stories in which not all lives are equal, it seems that Dick and Graves are attempting to situate... (More)
Looking at two historical romances by women writers, Kathleen Graves’ Exile: A Tale of Old Tasmania (1945) and Isabel Dick’s Wild Orchard (1946), this article seeks to examine narratives of an early nineteenth-century Van Diemen’s Land that are apparently at odds with the 1940s Tasmania it was to become. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s “state of exception” as the theoretical underpinnings for this essay, I read both the nineteenth- and twentieth-century island as a site for the proliferation of bare life whereby the whole of society finds itself defined by its prison-like capacity to strip individuals of their right to life. In telling these stories in which not all lives are equal, it seems that Dick and Graves are attempting to situate their narratives firmly in the past where they cannot contaminate the present, and indeed, future of their island.
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agamben (Giorgio), Tasmanian literature, Van Diemen’s Land, state of exception, historical romance
in
Commonwealth Essays and Studies
volume
42
issue
1
ISSN
2270-0633
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
53e509d2-9bbd-42be-8c5a-381a692e2e88
alternative location
https://journals.openedition.org/ces/1076
date added to LUP
2018-07-19 09:28:14
date last changed
2020-03-31 15:23:35
@article{53e509d2-9bbd-42be-8c5a-381a692e2e88,
  abstract     = {{Looking at two historical romances by women writers, Kathleen Graves’ Exile: A Tale of Old Tasmania (1945) and Isabel Dick’s Wild Orchard (1946), this article seeks to examine narratives of an early nineteenth-century Van Diemen’s Land that are apparently at odds with the 1940s Tasmania it was to become. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s “state of exception” as the theoretical underpinnings for this essay, I read both the nineteenth- and twentieth-century island as a site for the proliferation of bare life whereby the whole of society finds itself defined by its prison-like capacity to strip individuals of their right to life. In telling these stories in which not all lives are equal, it seems that Dick and Graves are attempting to situate their narratives firmly in the past where they cannot contaminate the present, and indeed, future of their island.<br/>}},
  author       = {{Turner, Ellen}},
  issn         = {{2270-0633}},
  keywords     = {{Agamben (Giorgio); Tasmanian literature; Van Diemen’s Land; state of exception; historical romance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  series       = {{Commonwealth Essays and Studies}},
  title        = {{“The Whole Island is a Jail and We the Warders” : States of Exception in Tasmanian Historical Fiction}},
  url          = {{https://journals.openedition.org/ces/1076}},
  volume       = {{42}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}