In Australia, we have not yet composed a literature of place in which the Australian geographies sing, so in this dissertation, the author goes travelling with some North American writers in their native landscapes, exploring the practice of landscape witness, of ecological imagination. They carry on there,looking for the ways in which the wild music of the land be discerned and expressed in words. He talks with them about the business of writing the life of places. He takes heed of the natural histories in which their works have arisen, looking for correlations between those physical terrains - the actual earth, the solid ground of their work - and the terrain of these writers' prose, wondering how the prose (and sometimes the poetry) may be said to be an expression of the place. This work, in a sense, is a natural history of six nature writers; it is an ecological imagining of their lives and works and places. Writing the Wild is a journey through the light, the wind, the rock, the water, sometimes the fire that makes the land that houses the writers who compose these lyrics of place. Most of what it learns about those writers, it learns from the places themselves. This dissertation takes landscapes seriously. It reads the works of these writers as though the landscapes of which and in which they write might be worthy of regard in understanding the terrain of their texts. It lets places show light on works of words composed within them. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

O presente trabalho busca explorar como a dimensão do traumático incide na literatura contemporânea, mais especificamente, na literatura de um escritor nova-iorquino, Paul Auster. Supomos que as modalidades de subjetivação de determinado período histórico podem ser investigadas a partir de objetos estéticos culturais particulares, ou, pelo menos, que determinadas obras podem servir como uma espécie de testemunho e de historiografia dos sofrimentos de uma época. Esboçamos possíveis ressonâncias entre o plano geral da cultura e da história e o das qualidades específicas e expressivas de uma obra determinada, o que abre espaço para um diálogo entre esses domínios. Com isso, contudo, não se espera privilegiar o que é externo à obra em detrimento dela, e muito menos explicar a literatura pelo recurso a teorias e sistemas de compreensão prévios. Ao contrário, partimos de uma leitura próxima e imanente às obras para realizar ensaios a partir de três livros de Paul Auster: A invenção da solidão, O livro das ilusões e Noite do oráculo. Tais leituras seguiram uma espécie de ética da hospitalidade enquanto ética da leitura. Seguindo de perto as obras, e instalando-se nelas como num regime de habitação, fomos abrindo pontos de contato e comunicação entre as obras, bem como com outras dimensões da história, principalmente no que concerne a aspectos traumáticos e catastróficos. Os ensaios aventam a hipótese de que os livros de Paul Auster escolhidos demonstram, em seu aspecto mais formal, aspectos importantes do que veio a ser conhecido, na psicanálise, como compulsão à repetição. Além disso, a transmissão de aspectos indigestos e traumáticos transgeracionais, por via de criptas psíquicas, pode ser observada na própria autobiografia de Paul Auster, notadamente, A Invenção da solidão. As vicissitudes e destinos do trauma em sua dimensão transgeracional e individual são articuladas com o plano da cultura e com outros pensadores. Propomos, também, uma modalidade de leitura reparadora, em contraposição a uma leitura paranoica, para responder à complexidade e às ambiguidades das obras selecionadas / The present thesis aims to explore how the dimension of the traumatic concurs in contemporary literature, particularly in the one by New Yorker writer Paul Auster. It is supposed that the forms of subjectivity in a certain historical period can be searched into on the basis of particular cultural aesthetic objects. Or, at least, certain pieces of work can render as some sort of witness, as well as historiography of suffering in a particular era. It has been possible to outline some resonances between the general cultural and historical level ground and the one of expressive and specific qualities in a certain work, which opens space for a dialog between these domains. Nevertheless it is not expected neither to grant a privilege to what is external to the piece of work to its detriment, nor to explain literature from the theories and systems of previous comprehension. To the contrary, a close and immanent reading has been made, in order to make an assay, out of three of Paul Austers books: The invention of solitude, The book of illusions and Oracle Night. Such reading has followed some kind of hospitality ethics whereas reading ethics. Accompanying closely these works, and settling down on them as in a habitation regime, points of communication were opened between them, as well as with other dimensions of history, mainly to what concerns traumatic and catastrophic aspects. The assays suggest the hypothesis that these chosen Austers books demonstrate, in their formal aspect, important features of what has become known in Psychoanalysis as compulsion of repeating. Furthermore, the transmission of transgenerational indigestive and traumatic aspects, through psychic crypts, can be observed in Austers autobiography The invention of solitude. The vicissitudes and destinies of trauma on its transgenerational and individual dimensions are articulated with the cultural level ground and with other authors. It is also proposed a modality of repairing reading, in opposition to a paranoid reading, to respond to the complexity and ambiguity of the selected works

O presente trabalho busca explorar como a dimensão do traumático incide na literatura contemporânea, mais especificamente, na literatura de um escritor nova-iorquino, Paul Auster. Supomos que as modalidades de subjetivação de determinado período histórico podem ser investigadas a partir de objetos estéticos culturais particulares, ou, pelo menos, que determinadas obras podem servir como uma espécie de testemunho e de historiografia dos sofrimentos de uma época. Esboçamos possíveis ressonâncias entre o plano geral da cultura e da história e o das qualidades específicas e expressivas de uma obra determinada, o que abre espaço para um diálogo entre esses domínios. Com isso, contudo, não se espera privilegiar o que é externo à obra em detrimento dela, e muito menos explicar a literatura pelo recurso a teorias e sistemas de compreensão prévios. Ao contrário, partimos de uma leitura próxima e imanente às obras para realizar ensaios a partir de três livros de Paul Auster: A invenção da solidão, O livro das ilusões e Noite do oráculo. Tais leituras seguiram uma espécie de ética da hospitalidade enquanto ética da leitura. Seguindo de perto as obras, e instalando-se nelas como num regime de habitação, fomos abrindo pontos de contato e comunicação entre as obras, bem como com outras dimensões da história, principalmente no que concerne a aspectos traumáticos e catastróficos. Os ensaios aventam a hipótese de que os livros de Paul Auster escolhidos demonstram, em seu aspecto mais formal, aspectos importantes do que veio a ser conhecido, na psicanálise, como compulsão à repetição. Além disso, a transmissão de aspectos indigestos e traumáticos transgeracionais, por via de criptas psíquicas, pode ser observada na própria autobiografia de Paul Auster, notadamente, A Invenção da solidão. As vicissitudes e destinos do trauma em sua dimensão transgeracional e individual são articuladas com o plano da cultura e com outros pensadores. Propomos, também, uma modalidade de leitura reparadora, em contraposição a uma leitura paranoica, para responder à complexidade e às ambiguidades das obras selecionadas / The present thesis aims to explore how the dimension of the traumatic concurs in contemporary literature, particularly in the one by New Yorker writer Paul Auster. It is supposed that the forms of subjectivity in a certain historical period can be searched into on the basis of particular cultural aesthetic objects. Or, at least, certain pieces of work can render as some sort of witness, as well as historiography of suffering in a particular era. It has been possible to outline some resonances between the general cultural and historical level ground and the one of expressive and specific qualities in a certain work, which opens space for a dialog between these domains. Nevertheless it is not expected neither to grant a privilege to what is external to the piece of work to its detriment, nor to explain literature from the theories and systems of previous comprehension. To the contrary, a close and immanent reading has been made, in order to make an assay, out of three of Paul Austers books: The invention of solitude, The book of illusions and Oracle Night. Such reading has followed some kind of hospitality ethics whereas reading ethics. Accompanying closely these works, and settling down on them as in a habitation regime, points of communication were opened between them, as well as with other dimensions of history, mainly to what concerns traumatic and catastrophic aspects. The assays suggest the hypothesis that these chosen Austers books demonstrate, in their formal aspect, important features of what has become known in Psychoanalysis as compulsion of repeating. Furthermore, the transmission of transgenerational indigestive and traumatic aspects, through psychic crypts, can be observed in Austers autobiography The invention of solitude. The vicissitudes and destinies of trauma on its transgenerational and individual dimensions are articulated with the cultural level ground and with other authors. It is also proposed a modality of repairing reading, in opposition to a paranoid reading, to respond to the complexity and ambiguity of the selected works

This thesis argues that consumerism and the mass media wield an unparalleled influence over contemporary North American society, and that these forces constitute the primary means through which identity is constituted. The historical and theoretical developments that have led to the foregrounding of these forces are outlined in the introduction - developments, it is argued, that are intrinsically connected to the social upheava1 that characterized America in the late 1960's and early 1970's, while their presence in and effects on the fiction of four contemporary North American writers - Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Bret Easton Ellis and Douglas Coupland - are examined in the main body of the thesis. Chapter I focuses on Pynchon whose novels, it is argued, are the product of a uniquely post-1960's America, which mourns the sacrifice of traditional ideals to the corporate mindset which has been prevalent since ths 1980's Pynchon's dominant metaphor for the direction in which he believes American society to be moving is the thermodynamic concept of entropy, which stipulates that all prqress is towards death. His novels abound with characters who disintegrate due to the information overload fostered by their media-based world. However, he retains his faith that a return to historical values and traditions will stem and even reverse the entropic tide DeLillo, a close contemporary of Pynchon's, draws on a different aspect of the legacy of the 1960's, for his writing is overshadowed by the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy and the years of turbulence that ensued. His novels are ultimately more pessimistic because his characters do not succeed in escaping from the repressive narratives of consumerism and the mass media in order to reassert their own personalities. One reason for this failure, it is argued, is that DeLillo's characters represent a metaphorical dramatization of the dichotomy between the modernist desire for structure and the postmodernist embrace of fluidity and uncertainty. The fictional characters of the younger authors, Ellis and Coupland, inhabit this postmodern world where all experience has been rendered depthless and traditional ontological and epistemological certainties have been collapsed Ellis' characters fluctuate between the extremes of apathy and violence as they search for a way of preventing their psyches from disintegrating amidst the surrounding chaos. Neither one of these options brings - any relief. Coupland is more optimistic about the ability of his characters to survive and even prosper in the contemporary world. He arms them with the linguistic and technological skills necessary to adapt to the rapid social and technological changes. Most importantly of all, he draws on the sense of objectivity fostered by his own background as a Canadian in order to provide them with an alternative and a sense of escape from the media-saturated environment of the American West Coast. What is perhaps most remarkable about these four authors as a group is that in spite of their obvious insight into the nature of the contemporary postmodern world, they are unwilling - or perhaps even unable - to fully relinquish their hold on a number of traditional metanarratives, most notably the ideal of the stable, supportive family unit. This implies a degree of uncertainty and perhaps even of fear on their parts about fully committing to the fluidity of contemporary culture.