Literary portrayal

Discusses Lawrence’s image of Australia as presented in his novel Kangaroo. Argues that Lawrence saw Australia essentially ‘as an alien, primeval, indifferent land, sombre and remote, yet beautiful, a land scarcely touched by civilization, the evidence of which was…

The form of Kangaroo has found few admirers. John Middleton Murry described it as 'a chaotic book. It has many passages of great descriptive beauty, but internally it is a chaos'; Julian Moynahan has written that 'from a formal point…

A passionate love of the land and of the people who live close to the soil is the source of Katharine Susannah Prichard's writing. Like other writers of her time she was acutely conscious of the need for a national…

‘This essay develops on the premise of imagining, which is the heart of story-making: imagine the physicality of story. Imagine the deployment strategies, the covert ‘translations’ of difference’ that facilitate the entry of the Other story through the gate.
And…

As a 'regional celebrity writer' of national and international acclaim, Australian writer Tim Winton contributes to the process of re- defining sustaining myths of identity and belonging in the white Australian imaginary (see Huggan 7). Emerging as a West Australian…

As the epigraph for True History ifthe Kelly Gang (2000), Peter Carey chooses these lines from William Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun (1950): 'The past is not dead. It is not even past' (Carey, True 2). Contained in these words…

Discusses the growing (and shifting) interest of Australian writers in Asian cultures, religions and philosophies and gives an overview of the representation of Asia in some recent Australian novels. Argues that earlier Australian novels “saw Asia simply as an exotic…

Surveys poetry and verse, personal narratives and popular novels written by Australian women about the Great War. Finds as major preoccupations and concerns in this type of literature: fear of threats to their class and race caused by war; fear…

‘In 1934 Miles Franklin described Eleanor Dark’s second novel, Prelude to Christopher, as ‘a terribly beautiful piece of work’ (128). One of Dark’s earliest critics, Franklin attributed the book’s strength to the author’s deft handling of a tragic theme…