The uneasiness of small town narratives in unfamiliar landscapes

"But there are negative consequences to this construction of the detective as outsider when the outback setting is presented as something unfamiliar, something to be feared. These arise from the origins of Australian Gothic, which scholars have long recognised as an expression of settler-colonial anxiety about the violent dispossession of the country’s Indigenous people."
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https://theconversation.com/why-jane-harpers-outback-noir-novels-make-for-comfortable-and-uncomfortable-reading-266228
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Why Jane Harper’s ‘outback noir’ novels make for comfortable – and uncomfortable – reading

Jane Harper’s novels do not include any significant First Nations characters or perspectives. Nor do they acknowledge the deeper meaning and consequence of their Gothic conventions.

The Conversation