Iterating Silences: Problems in writing real places in Australia using existing literature

An examination of real Australian cities can be approached through the spatial study of geocriticism; however, this process relies on curated source selection that can yield particular ideas about community and a sense of place. Furthermore, engaging with a textual analysis of the geocritical review can produce a homogenisation of social representations that may reinforce omissions and exclusions of groups (Harris 2018). To demonstrate the problems, but also the opportunities of using geocriticism to examine how a sense of place emerges through Australian literature, this discussion examines a case study of Walyalup/Fremantle, Western Australia. This case study explores the first stage of source selection, its limitations and issues, as well as the space for researchers and writers to reflect on omissions and absences in published literature, and the secondary considerations of the absent voices through a cursory textual analysis of the selected sources. Each of the texts selected is a representation of a microcosm of society in Walyalup/Fremantle within a wider Australian context, and as such all aspects should be considered as contributing towards the weave of the city’s narrative. This discussion aims to identify both the value of a geocritical review of literature and bring to the researcher and writer an awareness of problems that may emerge from this approach. When considering the use of geocriticism as a tool for creative practice, a deliberation of such inclusions and omissions must be reviewed to ensure that a silencing of voices does not continue in a writer’s own work. Exclusions of who belongs in a place and to a place are problematic (Potter & Magner 2018), and if perpetuated in creative writing, can generate iterations of silences.