An Open Book David Malouf POETRY
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Reflections on Some Recent Australian Novels ELIZABETH WEBBY
Books and Covers: Reflections on Some Recent Australian Novels ELIZABETH WEBBY For the 2002 Miles Franklin Award, given to the best Australian novel of the year, my fellow judges and I ended up with a short list of five novels. Three happened to come from the same publishing house – Pan Macmillan Australia – and we could not help remarking that much more time and money had been spent on the production of two of the titles than on the third. These two, by leading writers Tim Winton and Richard Flanagan, were hardbacks with full colour dust jackets and superior paper stock. Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish (2001) also featured colour illustrations of the fish painted by Tasmanian convict artist W. B. Gould, the initial inspiration for the novel, at the beginning of each chapter, as well as changes in type colour to reflect the notion that Gould was writing his manuscript in whatever he could find to use as ink. The third book, Joan London’s Gilgamesh (2001), was a first novel, though by an author who had already published two prize- winning collections of short stories. It, however, was published in paperback, with a monochrome and far from eye-catching photographic cover that revealed little about the work’s content. One of the other judges – the former leading Australian publisher Hilary McPhee – was later quoted in a newspaper article on the Award, reflecting on what she described as the “under publishing” of many recent Australian novels. This in turn drew a response from the publisher of another of the short- listed novels, horrified that our reading of the novels submitted for the Miles Franklin Award might have been influenced in any way by a book’s production values. -
Download Program
Festival Guests Festival Information Sponsors Amanda Anastasi is an award-winning poet writer of the The Treehouse series and the in Residence at Melbourne University, Janet How to Book Festival Venues Major Partners Williamstown Literary whose work ranges from the introspective to BUM trilogy. Clarke Hall. willy All events held on Saturday 13 June the socio-political. Gideon Haigh has been an independent Susan Pyke teaches with the University of For detailed descriptions of sessions, David Astle is the Dictionary Guy on Letters journalist for almost 30 years. Melbourne, and her poetry, short stories and presenters and to book tickets, visit and Sunday 14 June are located at either the Williamstown Town Hall www.willylitfest.org.au or phone the ( and Numbers (SBS) and well-known crossword John Harms is a writer, publisher, broadcaster associative essays have appeared in various Festival lit compiler. and historian who appears on Offsiders (ABC) journals. Box Office on 9932 4074. or the Williamstown Library. ‘’ Kate Atkinson is an actor and one of the and runs footyalmanac.com.au Jane Rawson was formerly the Environment Book before midnight, Sunday 24 May Both are located at 104 Ferguson original founders of Actors for Refugees. & Energy Editor for news website, The Catherine Harris is an award-winning writer 2015 for special early bird pricing. Street, Williamstown. Please check 13 and 14 June 2015 fest Matt Blackwood has won multiple awards for and author of The Family Men. Conversation. She is the author of the novel, A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists. your ticket for room details. -
The Search for Love and Truth in Shirley Hazzard's Writings
a-,¡ *-f.-t¡.,| I €.? Ë " ^tf ..) -lo- 'THE GOLDEN THREADI THE SEARCH FOR LOVE AND TRUTH IN SHIRLEY HAZZARDIS WRITTNGS Kathleen M. Twidale, B.À. (Hons. ) A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of English, University of Adelaíde February, 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. SUMMARY 1tt. SlATE14ENTS v1. ACKNOW LEDG E MENTS vttl. CHAPTER I In troduc t ion I CHAPTER II 'Candle of Understandíng' Some Light on Shirley Hazzard's Use of Language 24 CHAPTER ÏII The Short Stories 59 CHAPTER IV The Evening of the Hol iday 91 CHAPTER V The Bay of Noon 117 CHAPTER VI The Transit of Venus r52 CONCLUSION 19s a Page No. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 199 NOTES 200 BIBLIOGRAPHY 2r6 l_t_ ITHE GOLDEN THREAD' THE SEARCH FOR LOVE AND TRUTH IN SHTRLEY HAZZARD'S WRIT]NGS SUMMARY This thesis, as its title suggests, wil_1 examine the themes of l-ove and truth in shirley Hazzard's h¡ritings. rt will be argued that aJ-though she views her characters with ironic detachment, presenting love and its effects with a clear-eyed l-ack of sentimentaJ-ity, nevertheless, shirley Hazzardts theme throughout her novels and short stories is that the ability to l-ove is of immense importance in the life of her characters. Though l-ove itsel-f may be transient, through the powers of memory its effects are permanent. Those that have loved 'must always be different'and in, that senser'1ove is eternal'for shirley Hazzard's heroines. The different attitudes of Shirley Hazzard's male and female characters to rove is also investigated and it will be argued that, with few exceptions, l-ove to the men is'but a thing apartr; to the vüomen 'who1e existencef . -
21 – 23 February University of Western Australia Welcome to Literature & Ideas
PERTH FESTIVAL LITERATURE & IDEAS 21 – 23 FEBRUARY UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA WELCOME TO LITERATURE & IDEAS Perth Festival acknowledges the Noongar people who continue to practise their values, language, beliefs and knowledge on their kwobidak boodjar. They remain the spiritual and cultural birdiyangara of this place and we honour and respect their caretakers and custodians and the vital role Noongar people play for our community and our Festival to flourish. Welcome to Perth Festival’s Literature & Ideas Weekend, nestled on the campus of the University of Western Australia, our Founding Partner. Within a broader Festival 2020 program that celebrates this city and its stories, this weekend acknowledges the importance of histories both oral and written, as we share figurative campfires of understanding here on Whadjuk Boodja. This festival-in-a-festival has been curated by extraordinary local writer, Sisonke Msimang. Her broad knowledge is matched only by the size of her heart – traits that shine through in this program of big ideas and intimate revelation. I do trust you’ll enjoy it. IAIN GRANDAGE Image: Jess Wyld ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Image: Nick White The Stevie Wonder song ‘Love’s in Need of Love Today’ was an a more overt role in our public discussions. This is no excuse to integral part of my childhood. At every family party it would be avoid truth telling: we have asked our guests to bring their most played at full blast and everyone would join in, singing along at the loving, direct and clear selves to the table. top of our voices until we were drowning out Stevie, belting out We are excited to introduce you to an international roster of the lyrics which managed to be simultaneously saccharine and writers from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Nigeria and Pakistan poignant: whose books we love. -
Nothing Will Silence It
LeadingWriters-FinalText.x 5/2/07 9:45 AM Page 3 Nothing Will Silence It By Alex Miller I don’t know that it’s making any difference, is it? And if it is making a difference, how do we begin to quantify the differ- ence it’s making? It’s rather like prayer. How can we know? Without poetry and drama and novels and music and art we know ourselves to be poorer. We know such things as these enrich our existence. But really that’s about all we can say. We can’t really say what it all means, or how it changes anything, at least not for other people, and perhaps not even for ourselves — unless we are book reviewers, of course, and no mysteries of the human soul are hidden from us. It is a rather elusive thing really, what creative writing or music mean. And this is one of their greatest charms. They elude our reason and give us respite from its tyrannies. What is this feeling of wonder that holds us in thrall as we read W.G. Sebald’s description of the decay of the Ashbury household in Ireland? Why are we so mesmerised? We don’t know these people. They are not our neighbours or our old friends. We are not learning anything useful. And Sebald is telling someone else’s story — the greatest source for all story- tellers, of course, other people’s stories. We are listening to Sebald’s own astonishment, to his sense of the melancholy and the inexplicable meaninglessness of the lives of this stricken family of forlorn exiles. -
Ÿþm I C R O S O F T W O R
- 1 - INTRODUCTION A Sense of Place in Twentieth-Century Australian Life Writing In recent years, at both popular and academic levels, there has been increased talk about an Australian national identity. Events at home and abroad have sparked discussion about what it means to be “Australian”, and Australia’s role in world affairs. Such debates inevitably turn to a reassessment of traditional attributes of the “Australian character”, highlighted a few years ago by the controversy over the proposed insertion of the value of “mateship” into the preamble to the Australian constitution. For all this talk about national character and values, it is often forgotten that, on a more personal level, any identification with a nation or homeland must also involve a sense of place. What makes any of us Australian? Surely at bottom this has to begin with our dwelling in, having origins in, and retaining a continuing connection to this land mass we now call Australia. But what are the hallmarks of an Australian’s sense of place? How is it formed, nurtured and sustained? Does one’s sense of place change or alter depending on what part of Australia one lives in? As Simon Schama says in the introduction to his extensive study, Landscape and Memory, “it is our shaping perception that makes the difference between raw matter and landscape”.1 So, too, our sense of place comes not merely from the physical landforms we inhabit but also from within us, our mode of viewing, which is informed by culture and history. This thesis explores the sense of place formed during childhood, as remembered by adult Australians who reconstruct their youth through various forms of life writing. -
A World-Ecological Reading of Drought in Thea Astley's
humanities Article Dry Country, Wet City: A World-Ecological Reading of Drought in Thea Astley’s Drylands Ashley Cahillane Discipline of English, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland; [email protected] Received: 6 January 2020; Accepted: 16 July 2020; Published: 11 August 2020 Abstract: Using a postcolonial and world-ecological framework, this article analyses the representation of water as an energy source in Thea Astley’s last and most critically acclaimed novel Drylands (1999). As environmental historians have argued, the colonial, and later capitalist, settlement of Australia, particularly the arid interior, was dependent on securing freshwater sources—a historical process that showed little regard for ecological impact or water justice until recent times. Drylands’ engagement with this history will be considered in relation to Michael Cathcart’s concept of ‘water dreaming’ (2010): the way in which water became reimagined after colonization to signify the prospect of economic growth and the consolidation of settler belonging. Drylands self-consciously incorporates predominant modes of ‘water dreaming’ into its narrative, yet resists reducing water to a passive resource. This happens on the level of both content and form: while its theme of drought-induced migration is critical of the past, present, and future social and ecological effects of the reckless extraction of freshwater, its nonlinear plot and hybrid form as a montage of short stories work to undermine the dominant anthropocentric colonial narratives that underline technocratic water cultivation. Keywords: Australian literature; world-ecology; blue humanities; world literature; ecocriticism; postcolonial ecocriticism 1. Introduction Water dictates Australia’s ecology, economy, and culture. Though surrounded by water, Australia is the world’s driest inhabited continent. -
ABR Favourite Australian Novels
Announcing the top ten ABR Favourite Australian Novels Of the 290 individual novels that were nominated in the ABR FAN Poll, below we list the top ten. At the foot of page 25 we simply name the ten titles that followed. We don’t have room to list all of your favourites. A complete alphabetical listing now appears on our website: www.australian- bookreview.com – a fillip to further reading and to a deeper appreciation of the range of Australian fiction, which was our shy hope when we polled our readers. Cloudstreet im Winton’s books attract international kudos, pres- 1 tigious awards and massive sales. Winton won the Australian/Vogel National Award with his first novel andT last year became only the second person to win the Miles Franklin Award four times. Cloudstreet, published in 1991, holds a unique place in Australian readers’ affections. Winton’s tale of the Lambs and the Pickles from the end of World War II to the 1960s won the 1992 Miles Franklin Award and was dramatised by Nick Enright and Justin Monjo. Presciently, in 1994, The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature predicted that ‘it seems certain to establish itself as one of Australia’s best novels’. Countless voters agreed. One of them, Carla Ziino, described it as ‘the quintessential Australian novel’. The Fortunes Voss of Richard atrick White, 2 3 Australia’s first Mahony Nobel Laureate Pfor Literature, dominat- enry Handel’s ed Australian literature grand trilogy from the 1950s to his – Australia death in 1990. Voss, his HFelix (1917), The Way fifth novel, published Home (1925) and Ultima in 1957, won the first Thule (1929), first col- Miles Franklin Award. -
London Book Fair 2019 Black Inc
BLACK INC. LONDON BOOK FAIR 2019 BLACK INC. LONDON BOOK FAIR 2019 Act of Grace 3 The Godmother 5 Melting Moments 7 See What You Made Me Do 8 Solved! 10 Tired of Winning 11 Contest for the Indo-Pacific 12 How to Defend Australia 13 Botany Bay and the First Fleet 14 Salt 15 Murder on Easey Street 16 It’s Your Money 17 Poster Boy 18 The Song Remains the Same 20 Songs 21 Shots 22 On David Malouf 23 On Shirley Hazzard 24 Writers on Writers 25 Deep Time Dreaming 27 The Shortest History of Europe 28 How to Win a Nobel Prize 29 Destination Simple 30 The Motivation Hoax 31 Black Inc. agents 32 Black Inc. contacts 34 Act of Grace Anna Krien The exhilarating debut novel from the award-winning author of Night Games. Toohey, an Australian soldier, returns from Baghdad with shrapnel lodged in his neck and crippled by PTSD. Melbourne teenager Robbie is grappling with her father’s early onset dementia and the silences in her family history that now may never be filled. Nasim, an aspiring Iraqi pianist, witnesses her family’s fall from the graces of Saddam Hussein. Escaping torture at the hands of psychopathic dictator- in-waiting Uday Hussein, she reaches Australia, searching for the music she thought she’d never hear again. Gerry, who grows up under the tyrannical rule of his father Toohey, must find a way to heal from a childhood of violence and damage. OCTOBER 2019 LITERARY FICTION The lives of these four characters intersect over decades, as their stories intertwine in a brilliant ISBN: 9781863959551 meditation on fear and sacrifice, trauma and eISBN: 9781743820339 survival, and what people will do to outrun the Imprint: Black Inc. -
Genealogy and Homographesis in the Fiction of Sumner Locke Elliott
‘The Writers’ Picnic’: Genealogy and Homographesis in the Fiction of Sumner Locke Elliott SHAUN BELL University of New South Wales I wanted to begin this essay with a well-known anecdote recounting the dinner party Patrick White and Manoly Lascaris held in their Martin Road home for Sumner Locke Elliott. Elliott’s biographer Sharon Clarke suggests that this anecdote is ‘told so often . some have declared it fiction’ (‘Writing Life’ 239).1 As with a fictional event, there are conflicting interpretations of the evening—Clarke called it ‘a great success,’ yet David Marr’s biography of White doesn’t mention the evening at all. White had greatly admired Elliott’s third novel, Edens Lost, calling it ‘marvellous,’ noting the ‘atmosphere and place, tone of voice, and the characters—above all the characters’ (Altman, ‘Crushed’). White had said as much to Elliott’s friend and fellow New Yorker Shirley Hazzard but despite this, the admiration and affection Elliott expected were absent; second hand accounts suggest that it was a ‘quiet’ and ‘awkward’ evening, and Elliott felt ignored. The punchline (as it were) of the anecdote sees Elliott leaving the party dejected. He recounts: After saying our goodbyes, with Patrick standing at the top of the stair, I began walking back down and I heard him cry behind me: ‘Come back! Come back!’ As I was returning to New York within the following days, I thought he meant to Australia and perhaps even to visit with him and Manoly again. So, with my back still to him, and wanting to immediately reassure him, I also called out my reply. -
Australian Literature: Culture, Identity and English Teachingi
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The University of Sydney: Sydney eScholarship Journals online Australian literature: culture, identity and English teachingi ANNETTE PATTERSON Queensland University of Technology The development of the Australian Curriculum has reignited a debate about the role of Australian literature in the contexts of curricula and classrooms. A review of the mechanisms for promoting Australian literature including literary prizes, databases, surveys and texts included for study in senior English classrooms in New South Wales and Victoria provides a background for considering the purpose of Australian texts and the role of literature teachers in shaping students’ engagement with literature. In taking the pulse of Australian literature generally it is worth pausing to think about some of Australia’s literary prizes and their accompanying guidelines and criteria. Many texts set for study in classrooms first appear on our radar through these prize lists. One of the most prestigious and oldest awards is the Miles Franklin Award which commenced in 1957. The winner of that year was Patrick White for his novel Voss. In the 54 years since the prize was established it has been won by female writers on 12 occasions, including four-time winner Thea Astley. Given Thea Astley’s repeat performances, the prize has been awarded to nine individual female authors. Male authors have won the award on 39 occasions including repeat wins by Patrick White (2) Kim Scott (2) Alex Miller (2) Tim Winton (4) Thomas Keneally (2) and Peter Carey (3). Overall, the award went to 30 individual male authors. -
Front Matter Antipodes Editors
Antipodes Volume 4 | Issue 1 Article 1 1990 Front Matter Antipodes Editors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/antipodes Recommended Citation Editors, Antipodes (1990) "Front Matter," Antipodes: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/antipodes/vol4/iss1/1 Spring 1990 A North American Journal of Australian Literature The Publication of the American Association of Australian Literary Studies Antipodes A North American Journal of Australian Literature The Publication of the American Association of Contents Spring 1990, Vol. 4, No. 1 Australian Literary Studies POETRY EDITOR 12 Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Two Fruits Robert Ross 17 R. A. Simpson, Wattle Flowering Edward A. Clark Center for Australian Studies 21 Dennis Haskell, The Mitchell Freeway University of Texas at Austin 28 Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Paradise Regained 33 Stephen Edgar, Reef MANAGING EDITOR Marian Arkin 36 Connie Barber, Kore City University of New York 54 Jan Owen, Metro, Fern FICTION EDITOR 58 Stephen Edgar, How the World is Made Ray Willbanks 61 Kevin Hart, That Bad Summer Memphis State University 63 Mark O’Connor, In the Gardiner Valley POETRY EDITOR Paul Kane FICTION Yale University BOOK REVIEW EDITOR 9 David Malouf, from The Great World Phyllis Fahrie Edelson 23 Rome Warren, Aviary Pace University 25 Thea Astley, from Reaching Tin River EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD 37 Paul Wenz, Little Murphy Ian Adam, University of Calgary; Jack 55 Ian Kennedy Williams, Lily Healy, Carleton University; Herbert C. 59 Gillian Mears, Afterthought Jaffa, New York University; Joseph Jones, University of Texas at Austin; Glen Love, University of Oregon; Robert McDowell, ESSAYS University of Texas at Arlington; Daniel Walden, Pennsylvania State University.