A Natural Penitentiary
Geographical imaginaries of Tasmania in Marcus Clarke’s 'For the Term of His Natural Life'
Keywords:
geographical imaginaries, orientalism, Marcus Clarke, settler-colonialism, Tasmania, utopianismAbstract
Literature has the capacity to co-create the geographies it describes, with long-term repercussions for a place’s identity locally and internationally. This article investigates how Marcus Clarke’s 1874 novel For the Term of His Natural Life has influenced and shaped popular geographical imaginaries of Australia’s island-state of Tasmania. The significance of His Natural Life has been explored across diverse disciplines, particularly in its relationship with gothic literary traditions and convict history. This article brings together past research into the novel’s influence on renderings of Tasmania’s landscape through the unifying concept of geographical imagination. The effects of omitting Indigenous Palawa people is returned to, elaborating on Tasmania’s ‘wilderness’ imaginaries by analysing underlying relationships with orientalism and dystopian imaginaries of the landscape. Engaging with this influential colonial depiction of Tasmania reveals shared origins with contemporary imaginaries, builds on the state’s active project of reconciliation, and asks new questions of the island’s postcolonial identity.References
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