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An End in Itself: The Beach as Third Space.
Briar Wood, University of North London
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This paper will discuss representations of the beach as the site of fantasy; a place described by Micahel Taussig as 'the ultimate fantasy space where nature and carnival blend as prehistory in the dialectical image of modernity.' The paper will consider the significance of the beach in narratives and images about the Pacific and Australia by a number of writers, such as Taussig, Kathy Lette, John Pilger, Tim Winton and Alex Garland, and in films such as The Piano and The Beach. It will comment on representations of the beach as a place of encounter, danger and change; an intermediate zone between land and sea. The paper will refer to Homi Bhabha's concept of the Third Space as a significant zone for the reconfiguring of identity and it will take up Michael Taussig's argument about the significance of the way class, historical and geographical shifts alter both perceptions and inhabitants of beach locations.
