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Belly of the Beast

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Belly of the Beast Belly of the Beast Volume One: The Major Work Elizabeth Allan Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English and Creative Writing School of Humanities Faculty of Arts The University of Adelaide July 2018 i ii Table of Contents Volume 1: “Belly of the Beast” Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... v Declaration of Originality ....................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... 0 Prologue ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 .................................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter 2 .................................................................................................................................... 6 May 1990 ................................................................................................................................. 11 Chapter 3 .................................................................................................................................. 17 Chapter 4 .................................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 5 .................................................................................................................................. 27 May 1990 ................................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 6 .................................................................................................................................. 32 Chapter 7 .................................................................................................................................. 36 May 1990 ................................................................................................................................. 39 Chapter 8 .................................................................................................................................. 42 Chapter 9 .................................................................................................................................. 47 November 1990 ........................................................................................................................ 54 Chapter 10 ................................................................................................................................ 58 November 1990 ........................................................................................................................ 63 Chapter 11 ................................................................................................................................ 69 November 1990 ........................................................................................................................ 78 Chapter 12 ................................................................................................................................ 84 Chapter 13 ................................................................................................................................ 90 November 1990 ........................................................................................................................ 96 Chapter 14 .............................................................................................................................. 100 Chapter 15 .............................................................................................................................. 104 November 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 16 .............................................................................................................................. 111 November 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 115 Chapter 17 .............................................................................................................................. 117 iii Chapter 18 .............................................................................................................................. 120 Chapter 19 .............................................................................................................................. 122 November 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 127 Chapter 20 .............................................................................................................................. 131 Chapter 21 .............................................................................................................................. 137 Chapter 22 .............................................................................................................................. 140 November 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 147 Chapter 23 .............................................................................................................................. 150 Chapter 24 .............................................................................................................................. 154 November 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 157 Chapter 25 .............................................................................................................................. 161 Chapter 26 .............................................................................................................................. 166 November 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 169 Chapter 27 .............................................................................................................................. 173 December 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 176 Chapter 28 .............................................................................................................................. 180 December 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 183 Chapter 29 .............................................................................................................................. 189 December 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 192 Chapter 30 .............................................................................................................................. 196 December 1990 ...................................................................................................................... 200 Chapter 31 .............................................................................................................................. 203 Chapter 32 .............................................................................................................................. 205 Chapter 33 .............................................................................................................................. 209 Epilogue ................................................................................................................................. 211 iv Abstract Australia and The United States share diverse topography and colonial origins, as well as a rich and varied road writing tradition. In light of these similarities, why do American texts continue to dominate the road story genre? Why is violence a prevalent theme in road stories from both Australia and The United States? Through the lens of Richard Slotkin’s theory of the mythogenesis of the frontier, the exegetical component of the thesis proposes that the circular process of analysis and regeneration of the violent mythology of the frontier in both Australian and American literature has dominated the road writing genre. The triumphant frontier narrative of America and the transcendent failure frontier narrative of Australia repeat in contemporary road writing. Stories written by women and writers from positions of cultural, ethnic, class, religious and sexual difference offer one possibility for the disruption of this process. Australian road stories Hiam by Eva Sallis, All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld and Floundering by Romy Ash offer a reimagining of road stories beyond the frontier legacies of racial, sexual and class oppression. Ross Gibson’s theory of badlands in Australia, which are narratives set in natural locations which attract more atrocities to occur, informs my approach to the reading of these texts. The major work, “Belly of the Beast,” is a subversion
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