Beach Literature/Landscape in Lit

I've been reading a lot about beaches in literature at the moment - how they are portrayed, why landscapes in literature are so important, and how they're almost personified etc. Anyone read The Beach (Alex Garland), or On Chesil Beach (Ian McEwan) for example?
Apparently there's even a course at a couple of universities that looks specifically at beaches in literature, which surprised me - I didnt think there was you could talk about on the subject!
Its not really something that has had that much criticism written about it, but the few things I have found suggests that the fact beaches are so inconsistant as a space, and a border between land and sea, makes them quite powerful as a setting to stories - particularly dystopian ones.

I was just wondering whether anyone else found this sort of thing interesting :)

Aye. I greatly enjoy writing about landscape -- most landscapes in fact. I haven't read much work that focuses specifically on beaches. But several of Rachel Carson's works deal with beach. And the first chapter of Thoreau's Cape Cod deals with the remnants of a visible shipwreck and the debris that floats a shore.

What is it that interests you in beaches and literature?

I find beaches and cliffs tremendously atmospheric. I remember walking the scary crumbling cliffs and beaches in Sunderland with the odd storm blowing, and standing on a walkway, (I'm not sure what you would call it) that stretched out into the boiling night sea like a great black tongue. Edgy!

Apart from passing references I'm not sure about beach focused books. Cornwall mel? Are you a surfer?

I find literature that uses external elements and activities as metaphors to be intersting. Beaches, fishing as in Hemingway, whaling as in Moby Dick, the Mississippi river in Huck Finn.

I never actually thought about this before, though reading Gothic literature as I rather enjoy doing, I am familiar with the use of the external background and nature as a way of reflecting the state of the characters mind, or the plot, as well as a way of foreboding or creating a particularly atmosphere. But I have not considered the idea of focusing particularly on beaches.

You do bring up some interesting points, and it does make me think back to books I have read which do have prominent beach scenes. You can bet in the future this will be on my mind now.

Tim Winton uses the imagery of water and oceans to describe the Australian outback and coastline - conveying his great love for the land...
As Dark Muse said, the landscape often mirrors the mind or emotions of the character - and the beach allows for the freeing of the mind (the water often refreshes and helps clarify thought)

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Originally Posted by Jazz_

Tim Winton uses the imagery of water and oceans to describe the Australian outback and coastline - conveying his great love for the land...
As Dark Muse said, the landscape often mirrors the mind or emotions of the character - and the beach allows for the freeing of the mind (the water often refreshes and helps clarify thought)

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Ah Jazz, you beat me to it. Winton was the first writer that popped into my head when i read the title of this thread. As i recall, 'An Open Swimmer', 'Breath', and 'Shallows' all focus heavily on and around the Western Australian coastline. 'Cloudstreet' is built around water imagery as well, but more on the Margaret River if i remember correctly?? In any case, the landscapes Winton creates are as much characters as the people he portrays.

The Greeks are camped out on a beach in the Iliad. This adds to the sense of displacement, degradation, discomfort and entrapment. They are stuck in uncomfortable tents, no doubt with sand getting in everywhere, we know what beaches are like. When the Trojans set fire to their ships it really builds up the tension. Where can the Greeks go? Caught between the sea and Trojans, while starving amongst sand dunes. Not exactly a beach party.

"The Tempest" has a very funny, drunken scene on the beach. Here the beach lends itself to fishy business amongst the more degraded characters in the play.

"Band of Brothers" -- the beaches of the D Day landing have obvious parallels to the Iliad. Note Churchill's "We will fight them on the beaches" speech. Beaches are the first part of an invasion where an Island nation (like Britain) is involved, and so there is much war literature centred on beaches--it's where the action must start and where most of it is likely to be concentrated, with heavy losses amongst the invaders because they are so exposed. But it's also the greatest shock a nation can endure. Its borders are initially & decisively penetrated when an invader sets foot on a beach. Total destruction of "one's world" then becomes a possibility (as with Troy).

I'll have to look at some of Tim Winton's stuff - I've never read anything by him before!

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Originally Posted by mal4mac

The Greeks are camped out on a beach in the Iliad. This adds to the sense of displacement, degradation, discomfort and entrapment. They are stuck in uncomfortable tents, no doubt with sand getting in everywhere, we know what beaches are like. When the Trojans set fire to their ships it really builds up the tension. Where can the Greeks go? Caught between the sea and Trojans, while starving amongst sand dunes. Not exactly a beach party.

"The Tempest" has a very funny, drunken scene on the beach. Here the beach lends itself to fishy business amongst the more degraded characters in the play.

"Band of Brothers" -- the beaches of the D Day landing have obvious parallels to the Iliad. Note Churchill's "We will fight them on the beaches" speech. Beaches are the first part of an invasion where an Island nation (like Britain) is involved, and so there is much war literature centred on beaches--it's where the action must start and where most of it is likely to be concentrated, with heavy losses amongst the invaders because they are so exposed. But it's also the greatest shock a nation can endure. Its borders are initially & decisively penetrated when an invader sets foot on a beach. Total destruction of "one's world" then becomes a possibility (as with Troy).

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Hi mal4mac - your reference to Band of Brothers - which I really liked on TV reminded me of a book I read when I was a kid - Currahee - about American Paratroopers in the Normandy Invaision. The stories in Band of brothers were similar in some respects, and I wondered if there was a link. I think Currahee was the mountain the Paratroops had to run up each morning, and it became their battle cry. Has anyone heard of this?