Westerly+Vol.+32+No.+4
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SWAN: THE HISTORY OF A BREWERY SUZANNE WELBORN Approx. $30.00 (eI), ISBN 085564 271 8 Approx. $20.00 (pb), ISBN 085564 272 6 This book is a history of one of Western Australia's oldest, biggest, and best-loved manufacturing industries, the Swan Brewery, and of its place in the lives of Western Australians. Far more than a chronicle of company development, it is a history of the State in microcosm; a faSCinating story of economic survival and fluctuating fortunes through 150 years of white settlement. CARNIVOROUS PLANTS OF AUSTRALIA: Volume I ALLEN LOWRIE $35.00 (eI), ISBN 085564 253 X $25.00 (pb), ISBN 0 85564 254 8 The first of three unique volumes, this book contains 46 western species of Drosera, an introduction. keys. glossary. maps. 133 full-colour plates and 51 botanical drawings UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA PRESS Nedlands, WA 6009 ORDER THROUGH YOUR BOOKSELLER WESTERLY Vol. 32, No.4, December 1987 CONTENTS Australian Expatriates Beyond the Turkey Gobblers 51 Glenda Adams Gifts of Passage 62 Bernard Hickey An Expatriate's Reaction 43 Peter Porter to his Condition Not One of the Jacks II Anna Rutherford Excerpt from a Letter 7 Geoffrey Smart Excerpt from a Letter 23 Harold Stewart Richard Kelly Tipping interviews 25 Harold Stewart Excerpt from a Letter 9 Randolph Stow Playing Scrabble Against 37 Anne Wienholt Yourself Theatre, Popular and Special 67 Peter Brook - The Mahabharata interviewed by David B.ritton STORIES India Song 89 Judith Fox POEMS Edwin Thumboo 74-78 Peter Porter 48 ARTICLES The Art of Compromise - 79 Noel Macainsh Christina Stead's For Love Alone REVIEWS V.K. Daniels, B.H. Bennett and 95 Veronica Brady H. McQueen, Windows Onto Worlds: Studying Australia at Tertiary Level Dorothy Hewett, Alice in 101 Gwen Harwood Wormland Notes on Contributors 104 Cover design by Susan Eve Ellvey using the painting 'At the Window of the Fattoria' by Jeffrey Smart, reproduced by courtesy of Jeffrey Smart and Gryphon Books. WESTERLY The National Quarterly from the West WESTERLY suscriptions may now be paid with Bankcard, MasterCard and Visa Card ~ by mail or telephone (09 380 2101). Please quote your card number and indicate which card you are using. WESTERLY is excellent value at $16 p.a. (4 issues, posted); students $14; $30 for 2 years (8 issues, posted); $5 single copies (posted); back copies and Indexes of past issues available. Subscriptions sent by mail should be addressed to: The Secretary, CSAL Department of English The University of Western Australia NEDLANDS, W A 6009 2 WESTERLY. Vol. 32. No.4, December 1987 WESTERLY a quarterly review ISSN 0043-342x EDITORS: Bruce Bennell. Peter Cowan. Dennis Haskell EDITORIAL ADVISORS: Margot ruke. Hilan' Fraser EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS: Diana Bndon (University of'British Columhia). John Hay (Monash Universitv). Dorothy Hewett (5)'dney). Brian Matthews (Flinders University), Vincent O'Sullivan (Victoria University. Wellington). Peter Porter (London). Anna Ruther/e)f(f (University of Aarhus). Edwin Thumho(} (National University of'Singapore). Alhert Wertheim (University of'lndiana) SECRETARY: Caroline Horohin TYPING: Janet King Westerly is published quarterly at the Centre for Studies in Australian Literature in the English Department. University of Western Australia with assistance from The Literary Arts Board of the Australia Council, the Federal Government's arts funding and advisory body, and the Western Australian Department for the Arts, The opinions expressed in Westerlr are those of individual contributors and not of the Editors or Editorial Advisors. Correspondence should be addressed to the Editors, Westerly. Department of English,. University of Western Australia. :\edlands, Western Australia 6009 (telephone (09) 380 3838). Unsolicited manuscripts not accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope will not be returned. All manuscripts must show the name and address of the sender and should be typed (double-spaced) on one side of the paper only, Whilst every care is taken of manuscripts. the editors can take no final responsibility for their return; contributors are consequently urged to retain copies of all work submitted. Minimum rates for contributors - poems $20.00; prose pieces $50.00; reviews. articles. $40.00. It is stressed that these are minimum rates. based on the fact that very brief contributions in any field are acceptable. In practice the editors aim to pay more. and will discuss payment where required. Recommended sale price: $5,00 per copy (W.A.) Subscriptions: $16.00 per annum (posted); $30.00 for 2 years (posted). Special student subscription rate: $14.00 per annum (posted). Single copies mailed: $5.00. Subscriptions should be made payable to Westerly and sent to The Secretary, CSAL, Department of English, liniversity of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009. In other States Westerlr may be obtained from: New South Wales. Victoria. ACT and Tasmania: Hale & Iremonger Pty, Ltd" Tel: (02) 5604977 and (03) 537 1624. Queensland: Tema Agencies. Tel: (07) 37X 6190. Work published in Westerly is cited in: Ahstracts ol English Studies. Australian Literary Studies Annual Bibliography. Australian National Bihliographl·. Journal oj Commonwealth Literature Annual Bibliography, ArlS alld Humanities Citation Index. Current Contents/ Arts & Humanities. The Genuine Arlicle and Modern Language Association oj America Bihliography. Two Westerly Indexes. 1956-77 and 1978-83, are available at $8.00 from the above address. WESTERLY. No.4. DECEMBER. 19S7 3 AUSTRALIAN EXPATRIATES Recent years have seen a surge of interest in the issue of Australian expatriation -- on the choice of some Australians to live and work away from the country of their birth and nationality. Sometimes artists and others who have made this choice come to feel that they are looked on as betraying their Australian-ness. "Expatriate" can seem a dirty word. But some make the choice unself-consciously without reservation or fuss. Living outside the country does give expatriates a special perspective on Australia; perhaps they see the bush because of not being lost in the gum trees. On the other hand, expatriates are sometimes people whose Australia remains the Australia they left in 1970 or 60 or 50 .... What do these people think when they come into contact with the Australia of the 1980s? Early in 1987 Westerly asked a selection of expatriate Australian writers, artists, critics and teachers what they thought about these issues. The editors asked for personal responses to questions such as: What are your personal perceptions of Australian society and culture now? Do they differ greatly from your perceptions at the time you left Australia to live overseas? Some people, of course, did not reply. Some gave brief responses in letters because they lacked the time to write an article. Of these, two were sufficiently interesting to warrant publishing extracts: we begin this feature on Australian expatriates with comments from Randolph Stow and Jeffrey Smart. What follows is interesting partly because of the varied nature of the responses. Glenda Adams provides detailed, sometimes intriguing, personal reminiscence. Peter Porter treads across the field of expatriation as across a minefield, armed with the detectors of erudition and wit. Sculptor Anne Wienholt, who prefers a question and answer format, ended up playing "scrabble" with herself. Anna Rutherford and Bernard Hickey, residents of Denmark and Italy respectively, offer sharp, and sharply personal, cultural essays. The result provides insights into the work of the individual writers and into the whole concept of expatriation, at least for Australians. Westerly welcomes further discussion of the ideas expressed. WESTERL Y, No.4, DECEMBER, 1987 5 JEFFREY SMART was born in Adelaide in 1921, and studied at the South Australian School of Art. He had his first solo exhibition in 1957, and has been exhibiting regularly ever since. He has lived in Italy since 1965. 6 WESTERLY, No.4, DECEMBER, 1987 JEFFREY SMART Excerpt from a Letter I'm afraid I haven't time to write a longish thing on why I prefer to live in Europe. My perceptions of Australian society and culture are those of someone who lived there well over twenty years ago. In those days the quality of life was certainly better here, but of course this could have changed. I think of myself as an Australian of course and, as you half suggest, I don't much like the word "expatriate". Maybe because, as Barry Humphries wrote, the word equals "traitor" in many Australian brains. It is a strong word, for some reason, and I think must often be used in Australia. Do you imagine that the Spanish would refer to Picasso as an expatriate? Or the Americans, referring to T.S. Eliot? Or the Irish, to James Joyce? The Greeks, to El Greco? Surely it's one big world and we can flow about and don't have to sit in compartments. Perhaps I prefer to live in Europe because I was brought here by my parents, as a young child: later on, growing up in Australia, my first memories were all of Europe, and they seemed beautiful, and more interesting than the life about me in suburban Adelaide.