Myth, Language and Identity in <i>The Seal Woman</i>¹

The concept of cultural identity/identities is one of the paths down which we can go to examine and illustrate the theme of maintaining the national. National identities are irrevocably intertwined with cultural identities as these are frequently, though not always, nation specific. This paper will analyse some aspects of Beverley Farmer's The Seal Woman to show how Farmer has used literary discourse to express the cultural identity of an individual character whose experiences are in more than one country. In a recent edition of the journal Southerly (1998) several critical essays presented a re-reading of Beverley Farmer's work, but only to a small extent with what is to me one of the most fascinating aspects of her work her play with language, use of mythi and the importance of these in the formation of cultural identity. This is a highly complex text where intertextual reference flows through every chapter, the discussion of which is unfortunately impossible within the frame of this paper. I have therefore chosen to concentrate on language and Nordic myths concluding by drawing a parallel between Ibsen and Farmer's protagonist.