Towards a hermeneutics of the postmodern transnational space: the case of contemporary Australian literature

Abstract

The work analyses the “spatial turn” in recent Australian literature, which has led to a new transnational orientation in many contemporary Australian narratives. To do so, it frames literary production in terms of spatial cognition and analyses spatiality and cognition as presented by several scholars in several realms. This theoretical introduction is followed by a more practical examination of recent Australian literary works and changes. Their features show that they are moving ahead of the postcolonial label and influence into a less ideologised position. They are in tune with the new deterritorialisation of the world, and the critical cognitive approach can provide insightful realisations bridging the gap between the actual world and its fictional representation. Finally, these examples and appreciations of the transnational are returned to theoretical ground to demonstrate that space and place, with their variants, are not only useful to (cognitive) literary studies, but to any socio-cultural approach. One of the key uses in this spatial turn towards the transnational lies in the apprehension of space-place as a pathway. It also speaks to the mobility of Australian society and its cultural productions.