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The Contextual Narrative of Isolation and Grief in Australia Women’S Writing

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The Contextual Narrative of Isolation and Grief in Australia Women’S Writing Sing at the Moon: the contextual narrative of isolation and grief in Australian women’s writing Barbara Hill A Thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the Award of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Sydney in October 2007. Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisors Dr Paul Dawson and Dr Hazel Smith for their support of my work. I would also like to acknowledge the care and support given by my dear friends. Thanks go to Dr Len Palmer and Helen Quinn for looking after our children so I could get ahead with this work over the years, for their valuable friendship, wonderful conversations and illuminating perspectives on the world, to Geoffrey Wainwright for his many years of friendship, love and support, to Joan Phillip for her creative camaraderie and love, to Dr Joy Wallace for her wonderful sense of humour, her fine scholarship, care and insight, to Kate Llewellyn for her nurturing both emotional and literary, her letters and laughter, to Laurel Mallard and Betty Robinson for their interest in matters literary and for their nurturing, to Geraldine Shoemark for sharing her interest in the otherworldly and the deeply psychological, to Cath Hudson and Jen Barry for their love, interest and support, to those other significant people over the years who have helped to inform the person I have become: Jude Marsland, Shauna Collingwood, Beth Keck, Sylvanna Bonacci, Belle Hayes and Chris Galloway. I am grateful to my father Barry and mother Pam for providing the education as a basis to this level of research and to my brother Steven and my niece Aylia, to Margaret and Jack Bacchus for being such wonderful friends and such unfailing support to our family. It is to my mother Pam, in whose memory this work acts as a final gift, a gift that celebrates her life, her commitment to education and her intellectual encouragement in a time when it was not particularly fashionable for women to think and also to the memory of our dear friend Ann Plummer whose love, friendship and dedication is profoundly missed. The world is a poorer place without them. Finally to Dr Ruth Bacchus without whose love and support none of this would be possible. It is to her, to our goddaughter Renata and to our children Narayan and Esther that this work is dedicated with all my love. 2 Originality Statement ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………….............. Date …………………………………………….............. Copyright Statement ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ……………………………………………........................ Date ……………………………………………........................... Authenticity Statement ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed ……………………………………………........................ Date ……………………………………………........................... 3 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Hill First name: Barbara Other name/s: Ann Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: School of English Faculty: ARTS Title: Sing at the Moon: the contextual narrative of isolation and grief in Australian women’s writing. Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) ‘Sing at the Moon: the contextual narrative of isolation and grief in Australian women’s writing’ comprises two complementary elements of a single thesis: a novel and a critical essay. My novel takes as its starting point the impact of unsolved murders on small regional communities and uses this to explore the effects of isolation and grief on subjectivities, particularly women’s. The novel represents an original contribution to that strand of contemporary Australian fiction, especially as written by women, which deals with the Australian bush myth and the effects on women of the masculinism of Australian national identity. The critical component of my thesis examines Thea Astley’s Drylands and Dorothy Hewett’s Neap Tide in terms of how each novel engages with Australian literary traditions and offers an explicit critique of Australian masculinist culture. I focus on the ways the novels represent violence against women and show how this violence works to underpin the masculinist myth of mateship to reveal a more sinister underbelly of Australian culture. Their critique of Australian masculinist culture also works at the level of form where both writers subvert a traditional ‘realist’ form for political as well as aesthetic purposes. I see myself primarily as a writer and feminist who uses theory and criticism as a way of reflecting on my own creative practice in the light of writing as social responsibility. My approach both to my own novel and to Drylands and Neap Tide is shaped by Susan Lever’s proposal that ‘writing and reading lie at the heart of feminism; they are the means by which women can explore and communicate the deepest aspects of their condition’ (2000,132). In my essay I am interested in providing a critical context for the novel by exploring feminist theories of subjectivity and the ways these can be represented in fiction. As a result I will analyse some of the narrative conventions employed in Hewett’s and Astley’s novels. I will show that the work of both writers operates in the context of an Australian literary tradition – both past and present – and informs and negotiates new ways that accommodate feminist concerns with fictional practice. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). ……………………………………… ……………………………………..……… ……….………… Signature Date Witness The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: Abstract ‘Sing at the Moon: the contextual narrative of isolation and grief in Australia women’s writing’ comprises two complementary elements of a single thesis: a novel and a critical essay. My novel takes as its starting point the impact of unsolved murders on small regional communities and uses this to explore the effects of isolation and grief on subjectivities, particularly women’s. The novel represents an original contribution to that strand of contemporary Australian fiction, especially as written by women, which deals with the Australian bush myth and the effects on women of the masculinism of Australian national identity. The critical component of my thesis examines Thea Astley’s Drylands and Dorothy Hewett’s Neap Tide in terms of how each novel engages with Australian literary traditions and offers an explicit critique of Australian masculinist culture. I focus on the ways the novels represent violence against women and show how this violence works to underpin the masculinist myth of mateship to reveal a more sinister underbelly of Australian culture. Their critique of Australian masculinist culture also works at the level of form where both writers subvert a traditional ‘realist’ form for political as well as aesthetic purposes. I see myself primarily as a writer and feminist who uses theory and criticism as a way of reflecting on my own creative practice in the light of writing as social responsibility. My approach both to my own novel and to Drylands and Neap Tide is shaped by Susan Lever’s proposal that ‘writing and reading lie at the heart of feminism; they are the means by which women can explore and communicate the deepest aspects of their condition’ (2000,132).
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