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Celebrating Difference by Catherine Watkins. BA. BLitt. (hons.) MA. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Deakin University October 2004 i Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One Aboriginal Short Fiction 41 Chapter Two. Australian-Jewish Short Fiction 116 Chapter Three 189 Chinese-Australian Short Fiction and Poetry Chapter Four 269 Middle-Eastern Australian Short Fiction and Poetry. Conclusion 316 Bibliography 321 ii Summary This thesis examines short fiction and some poetry by writers from four different Australian cultural communities, the Indigenous community, and the Jewish, Chinese and Middle-Eastern communities. I have chosen to study the most recent short fiction available from a selection of writing which originates from each culture. In the chapters on Chinese-Australian and Middle-Eastern Australian fiction I have examined some poetry if it contributes to the subject matter under discussion. In this study I show how the short story form is used as a platform for these writers to express views on their own cultures and on their identity within Australian society. Through a close examination of texts this study reveals the strategies by which many of these narratives provide an imaginative literary challenge to Anglo-Celtic cultural dominance, a challenge which contributes to the political nature of this writing and the shifting nature of the short story genre. This study shows that by celebrating difference these narratives can act as a site of resistance and show a capacity to reflect and instigate cultural change. This thesis examines the process by which these narratives create a dialogue between cultures and address the problems inherent in diverse cultural communities living together. 1 Introduction The contemporary Australian short fiction which I will study in this thesis reflects the dynamic nature of the short story genre in Australia by revealing voices and perspectives from cultures which are in varying degrees marginal to the Anglo-Celtic culture. I shall show how the short story form is used as a platform for these writers to express views on their own cultures and on their identity within Australian society, views which are at times contentious. This study will show the strategies by which many of these narratives provide an imaginative literary challenge to Anglo-Celtic cultural dominance and which contribute to the political nature of this writing and the shifting nature of the short story genre. The literature under consideration in this study consists of short fiction by writers from four different Australian cultural communities: the Indigenous community, and the Jewish, Chinese and Middle-Eastern communities. The stories are not bounded by a decade or a particular literary period; rather I have chosen the most recent short fiction available from a selection of writing which originates from each culture. In the chapters on Chinese-Australian and Middle-Eastern Australian fiction I have examined some poetry if it contributes to the subject matter under discussion. I have therefore included some poetry by Ouyang Yu to acknowledge its contribution to the debate on racism and to illustrate the confronting and accusatory nature of his writing. One poem from the anthology Footprints on Paper will also be discussed as an example of writing which has been published in 2 both English and Chinese and engages with Australian experience. As part of the chapter on Middle-Eastern short fiction I have included a discussion of three poems from the anthology Waiting in Space. A limited body of short fiction is available for scrutiny from Middle-Eastern cultures and these poems depict immigrant experiences and provide further imaginative perspectives on the subject of Middle-Eastern and Australian relationships. In this particular anthology the boundary between short fiction and poetry is at times porous. Short fiction by all writers will be considered in the context of the cultural perspectives from which they are writing. However, a small number of these stories do not overtly reflect the cultural background of their authors, in the course of the thesis therefore, I will discuss these narratives and their position with regard to other works considered in this study. In this introductory chapter I will provide an overview of the development of the short story genre in Australia and indicate the perspectives which direct the study of this writing. I will also consider the social and political background which has informed these narratives. The short story genre in Australia can be traced back to the mid- nineteenth century and to the growth of a reading public which grew alongside developments in printing and publishing. English authors were often favoured over Australians at this time, and Australia provided one of the chief markets for English publications. However writers such as David Burn, who wrote “Our First Lieutenant and Fugitive Pieces in Prose” in 1842 and Mrs. Vidal who wrote “Tales for The Bush”, published in 1845, were popular with readers, as were the stories of Mrs. Charles Clacy which were published in 1854. Burn’s stories were not set in Australia, but were stories of love and intrigue and were characterised by extravagant, descriptive language, while Mrs. Vidal’s writing was directed towards young women, and promoted strong moral messages (Hadgraft 2). Mrs. Charles 3 Clacy however drew upon more diverse subject matter. She wrote of the experience of immigration and depicted adventures in the new land. Her narratives used excessively formal language and despite the subject matter were constrained by the style in which they were written (Hadgraft 3). The most significant writer before Henry Lawson was Marcus Clarke, who published seven collections of short fiction, as well as articles, poetry and plays. He was influenced by Edgar Allen Poe who was being published in America in the 1840s and who had made significant contributions to the short story genre (Bennett 3). Newspapers such as the Melbourne Punch, which operated between 1855 and 1929, and the Australian Journal (1865-1958) as well as the Australasian, a weekly journal which ran between 1864-1946, provided publishing outlets for short story writers. Images of the colonies were filtered through these journals, not only to the reading public in Australia but also to readers back in England. Indigenous people, the presence of gold, convicts and the hardships of the settlers’ life provided a rich source of material for writers. In the 1980s many of these early stories were re-published in two anthologies: The Australian Short Story Before Lawson (1986) and From The Verandah (1987). 4 Henry Lawson was first published in the Bulletin in 1887, and his central role in literature was articulated by A.G. Stephens when he wrote in 1895: “Henry Lawson is the voice of the Bush and the Bush is the heart of Australia” (Qtd. in Barnes 2). The Bulletin displayed pro-republican and anti-British feeling and the influence of Stephens and J.F. Archibald, who had established the journal in 1880, affected the direction of literature in Australia. The role of the Bulletin became central to the development of literature, when the literary editor, A. G. Stephens, established the Red Page, a literary section of the newspaper in 1896. This page consisted of articles on books and literature in general, and encouraged participation through competitions and correspondence. It provided a focus for writers at this time and also encouraged the reading of texts and articles from overseas. Lawson’s readership associated his vision with the growing nationalistic feelings of the time. His literary voice became associated with being ‘Australian’ and contributed to the vigorous nature of the short story tradition in the 1890s. Lawson’s work at this time was defined by its simple economic style, with short sentences and paragraphs, however his work was criticised by A. G. Stephens for its parochialism. John Docker, in his book The Nervous Nineties: Australian Cultural Life in the 1890s, published in 1991, has pointed out that because of the lively cosmopolitan nature of the intellectual landscape of the 1890s, contributors to the Dawn and the Bulletin would be surprised at claims in the twentieth century, that they were “obsessed with the bush” (240 - 241). He situates some of Lawson’s characters in the ancient tradition of the carnivalesque, which is described by Bakhtin as: “A boundless world of 5 humorous forms and manifestations (which) opposed the official and serious tone of medieval ecclesiastical and feudal culture” (Morris 196). This interpretation suggests an added diversity and richness to Lawson’s writing. Although his reputation tends to dominate this era Lawson was surrounded by other writers of note, such as Arthur Hoey Davis, or Steele Rudd as he was known, whose view of life in the outback was oriented from a masculine perspective. Barbara Baynton had only one story published in the Bulletin, but was a well-received author at this time and one of the few women to have a story published in the journal (Bennett 78). Although contributions from women were said to be welcome, the space made available for their work was restricted, and Baynton’s story was heavily edited. Baynton’s Bush Studies, was published in 1901, her stories depict a bleak vision of women in the bush and of gender relationships. Its popularity was short-lived, and it went out of print, to be republished in 1965, inviting new perspectives and a re-appraisal of her writing (Bennett 80). Her peers Rosa Praed, Ada Cambridge and Louise Mack represent female perspectives in a literary world dominated by masculinist attitudes of the Bulletin, although twenty of Mack’s stories were published in the journal over a period of ten years. The Bulletin and Lawson can be seen to set a path for short story writing in Australia, however the first thirty years of the twentieth century were not productive ones for the genre.