The oddest contradiction of A Land is between its island patriotism and its planetary holism. On the one hand, Hawkes compelled her readers to imagine themselves in ways which make mockery of the idea of individual beings, let alone of nations. Seen from the perspective of the Cretaceous, the notion of the nation seems ridiculous, and fighting for a ‘country’ as ludicrous as going to war on behalf of a raindrop.
