Dead Europe and the coming of age in Australian literature : globalisation, cosmopolitanism and perversity

The modern incarnation of the nation-state is a relatively new socio-political arrangement, frequently dated from the French revolution of 1789, but settler countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States still tend to regard themselves as the 'younger' siblings of their European progenitors. The relative youth of these countries has been both a celebrated feature and cause for anxiety. In the Australian case, the insecurities generated by an immigrant population's lack of historical tenure over the land demarcated by the nation-state's borders are compounded by its status as a former English penal colony. The binary configuration of the 'old world' represented by the English motherland and those banished to the 'new world' of Australia was further reinforced in the post-war period by the waves of European immigrants that sought safety and a new beginning in the geographic remoteness of Australian shores. This convenient, if somewhat fictitious, binary between Australia and Europe has been useful as a means of distancing Australia from its former incarnation as a British outpost, and of encouraging immigrants to discard their cultural and historical baggage for a new cultural identity. Under this binary formation, Australian stereotypes have been developed in direct relation to beliefs about Europe. While Europe is depicted as an urban and cultural centre, Australia's self-image tends in the opposite direction: towards definitions of Australia through its landscape and a characterisation of the Australian people as being defined through their struggle to build a nation, in the harshest of climates. In Australian literature, European national identity is often taken for granted as a fixed entity"”something which Europeans wear with certainty"”as opposed to the insecurity and self-consciousness Australians have about their relative youth.