Wilderness in literature and culture

The significance of wilderness to the human condition is reflected in the long history of wilderness as a trope in literature. From powerful biblical conceptions of wilderness as a realm of spiritual and human destitution, of banishment and exile, and of abyssal 'otherworlds' beyond the locus of the sacred and civilised, through to Romantic beliefs about the benevolent forces and elemental powers inherent in nature, and, in turn, to contemporary ideas of the 'wild' influenced by conservationist and environmentally informed views centring on the value of wilderness in regard to biodiversity, the concept of wilderness holds a distinctly moral and culturally complex value. While literary treatments very often introduce subtle complexities regarding the relationship between moral considerations and the social and political agenda, in part attributable to variations across cultures, the Australian experience differs, perhaps only by degrees, but significantly so. Australian depictions of wilderness fall between the American and English-European perceptions, with contemporary understandings emphasising that, as Tim Winton says, 'nature is not done with us yet'. This chapter considers reflections on the wilderness and 'wild' by leading Australian writers, both in terms of contemporary conceptual modulations and political-social implications, and in view of the changing perceptions of the relationship with 'country' since European colonisation.