Mapping Western Australia: On The Literary Cartography In Tim Winton’s Novels

Having been active in the literary world since the second half of the 20^thcentury,Tim Winton is not only highly acclaimed in Australian literature arena but enjoys worldwide fame.As a prolific writer,Winton has published extensive novels,short stories,screenplays,and children’s novels.His works have intrigued the interest of literary critics since they were first published and,therefore,have won him quite a few awards,including four Miles Franklin Awards,the most significant literary prize in Australia.Winton sets his numerous works in small towns of Western Australia.Therefore,this thesis attempts to explore how Winton creates the literary cartography of Western Australia and its significance by investigating three of his representative works from different periods,Shallows,That Eye,the Sky,and Dirt Music.The concept of literary cartography is proposed by Robert T.Tally Jr.As a leading scholar in the circle of literary space in America,he believes that every piece of writing is somehow a form of literary cartography.This concept integrates space,geography,cartography,and other theories.Based on literary cartography,this thesis finds that Winton commits to establishing the position of subjectivity for himself,Western Australia,and even Australia in the corresponding larger group through his cartography on distinctive geographic space,multicultural space,and inward-turned cognitive space.It consists of six chapters.The first chapter includes four sections:the introduction of Tim Winton and his works;literature review;theoretical framework;and the originality of this thesis.The second chapter discusses Winton’s cartography on the geographic space of Western Australia.In Shallows,Winton draws a map and tour of the Angelus town from the perspective of“seeing”and“going”.In That Eye,the Sky,Winton,taking Ort as the first point of view,describes the tour of Ort’s hometown—Bankside.In Dirt Music,he adopts a third-person view to portray the map from White Point to Coronation Gulf.Through multiple kinds of personal perspectives and various geographic maps,Winton presents a natural and imaginary map,showing the distinctive geographic space of Western Australia to readers.The third chapter analyzes Winton’s cartography on the multicultural space of Western Australia.Winton focuses on the history of whaling culture in Shallows,puts particular emphasis on the positive effects of hippie culture in That Eye,the Sky,and unfolds the culture of ethnic reconciliation and interspecies reconciliation in Dirt Music.Such diversified cultures constitute the uniqueness of cultural space in Western Australia.The fourth chapter explores Winton’s cartography on the inward-turned cognitive space of Western Australia.In Shallows,the image of Queenie represents the beginning of inward-turned cognition.She is the first person who has the awareness to resist the mainstream whaling in the town.In That Eye,the Sky,the image of Ort shows the development of inward-turned cognition.Although Ort is a child,he possesses considerable insight beyond his sister,mother,and pastor.In Dirt Music,the images of Georgie and Lu demonstrate the accomplishment of inward-turned cognition.As they are emotionally alienated from White Point,they arrive at Coronation Gulf one after the other and take it to a place they belong to.The fifth chapter researches the importance of the literary cartography of Western Australia for Winton in positioning and identity construction.His literary cartography also plays an essential role in a larger collective and provides referential significance for Western Australia’s existence in Australia and Australia’s existence in the world.The last chapter is the conclusion of the thesis,restating the argument of the thesis and pointing out that it is feasible and innovative to interpret Winton’s works from the perspective of literary cartography.This thesis explores Winton’s literary cartography of Western Australia by analyzing his cartography on geographic space,cultural space,and inward-turned cognitive space.Through cartography on distinctive geographic space,Winton presents a vivid portrayal of the town he lives in and perceives,recreating the natural environment of Western Australia.His cartography on multicultural space provides avenues for him,the group of Western Australia,and Australia to find the distinctiveness of their own culture.At the same time,this cartography on inward-turned cognitive space can assist Winton,Western Australia,and Australia in overcoming dislocation and existential anxiety in a larger sphere,all of which make Winton one of the most typical and representative writers of“Australianness”.