The proliferation of island studies

Abstract

I’M an islomaniac. As Lawrence Durrell says, coining the term in his 1953 book Reflections on a Marine Venus (Faber & Faber), islomaniacs ‘find islands somehow irresistible’. I wasn’t born this way – which for some means I’ll never be a part of that exclusive club called ‘Islander’. It’s more that I’ve grown into it, like a new pair of shoes when you’re a kid. It’s a 28-year love affair with Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada. Before that it was a childhood attachment to Vancouver Island, on Canada’s west coast. Along the way I’ve dallied with Iceland and the Faroe Islands, Maui, the Åland Islands, the Isle of Man, Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. But I’ve recently been caught cheating big-time. I’ve fallen in love with Tasmania.