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The Australian Literature Resource
Authors represented in the Anthology
Peter Carey
Peter Philip Carey was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria on 7 May 1943. Educated at Geelong Grammar School, Carey began a science degree at Monash University before a serious car accident saw him leave university and begin work in an advertising agency. During this time, Carey wrote short stories, some of which were published, and novels which remain unpublished.
Returning to Australia in 1970 after three years in Europe, Carey published The Fat Man in History (1974). Writing success followed with the publication of Bliss (1982), Oscar and Lucinda (1988), Jack Maggs (1997) and True History of the Kelly Gang (2000), to name a few.
Carey's novels have won both the Booker Prize and the Miles Franklin Award.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
In the Anthology, the selection of articles relating to Peter Carey and his work include an interview and four articles which discuss Carey's novel True History of the Kelly Gang (2000).
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce Peter Carey to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary work is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Peter Carey's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Baker, Candida. 'Peter Carey'.
Eggert, Paul. 'The Bushranger's Voice: Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang (2000) and Ned Kelly's Jerilderie Letter (1879)'.
Huggan, Graham. 'Cultural Memory in Postcolonial Fiction: The Uses and Abuses of Ned Kelly'.
Innes, Lyn. 'Resurrecting Ned Kelly'.
O'Reilly, Nathanael. 'The Influence of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang: Repositioning the Ned Kelly Narrative in Australian Popular Culture'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Peter Carey and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Carey, Peter. Wrong About Japan: A Father's Journey with His Son. Milsons Point, NSW: Vintage Australia, 2004.
Huggan, Graham. Peter Carey. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Hassell, Anthony. Dancing on Hot Macadam: Peter Carey's Fiction. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1994.
Lamb, Karen. Peter Carey: The Genesis of Fame. Pymble, NSW: Angus and Robertson, 1992.
Woodcock, Bruce. Peter Carey. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2003.
Carey, Peter. Author's Website http://petercareybooks.com/
Hassell, Anthony. 'Peter Carey.' Australian Writers 1950-1975. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan USA: Gale Research, 2004. 53-62.
Marcus Clarke
Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke was born in London, England on 24 April 1846. Clarke immigrated to Australia in 1863, where he found employment in Victoria as a clerk and a station hand. In 1867, he was employed by the Argus as a staff writer and later worked for both the Age and the Australasian. He also was employed at the Melbourne Public Library between 1870 and 1875. Financial and health problems from the mid-1870s led to insolvency and bankruptcy problems in the last decade of his life.
Marcus Clarke died in Melbourne on 2 August 1881.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Marcus Clarke has been described as being one of Australia's most successful writers of the nineteenth century and his work included drama, novels, short stories and poetry. Yet, it was the serialisation of His Natural Life, renamed in 1882 For the Term of His Natural Life, that secured his place in Australian literary history.
The five articles selected in the Anthology in part reflect changing critical perspectives on the novel and its author. The earliest article, written in 1963 by L.L. Robson, seeks to position the novel within its historical framework. John Burrows in 1974 was more interested in framing the novel within a melodramatic vision. In that same year, Michael Wilding took on Marcus Clarke himself, while Catherine Runcie, in 1985, explores the novel's moral framework. In the final article, Elizabeth Webby revisits the melodrama motif, in particular, as adaptation.
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Marcus Clarke to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Marcus Clarke's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Burrows, John F. 'His Natural Life and the Capacities of Melodrama'.
Robson, L.L. 'The Historical Basis of For the Term of His Natural Life'.
Runcie, Catherine. 'Rufus Dawes : His Natural and His Spiritual Life'.
Webby, Elizabeth. 'From Melodrama to Classic Comic: Adaptations of His Natural Life, 1886-1986'.
Wilding, Michael. 'Marcus Clarke : His Natural Life'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Marcus Clarke and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Wilding, Michael. Marcus Clarke. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Ackland, Michael. 'Marcus Clarke (1846-1881)'. Australian Literature, 1788-1914. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2001. 81-93.
Jack Davis
Jack Leonard Davis was born in Perth, Western Australia on 11 March 1917. A member of the Bibbulmun tribe Davis grew up in Yarloop, Western Australia. At the age of 14, Davis was sent to the Moore River Native Settlement where he learnt farming. Thereafter, he worked as a stockman, boxer, horse-breeder, train driver and truck driver. While living at the Brookton Aboriginal Reserve, Davis began to learn the language and culture of his people.
Jack Davis has been awarded the Order of the British Empire – Medal (Civil) (1976), the BHP Award (1988) and the Swan Gold Theatre Award (1990). He has also received honorary doctorates from Murdoch University and the University of Western Australia.
Jack Davis died in Perth, WA on 17 March 2000.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Jack Davis's writing career includes drama, poetry, short fiction, autobiography and critical material. His commitment to and his activism for Aboriginal rights are reflected in his writings as he explores Aboriginal identity and sense of loss as well as the clash between Aboriginal and Colonial law.
In the Anthology, the selection of articles relating to Jack Davis and his works includes an interview and two articles.
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce Jack Davis to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Jack Davis's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Brady, Veronica. 'Reading Aboriginal Writing'.
Dibble, Brian and Margaret Macintyre, 'Hybridity in Jack Davis' No Sugar'.
Shoemaker, Adam. 'An Interview with Jack Davis'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussions of Jack Davis and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Davis, Jack. A Boy's Life. Broome, WA: Magabala Books, 1991.
Chesson, Keith. Jack Davis: A Life Story. Melbourne, Vic: J.M. Dent, 1988.
Casey, Maryrose. Creating Frames: Contemporary Indigenous Theatre: 1967-1990. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 2004.
Crow, Brian and Chris Banfield. Jack Davis and the Drama of Aboriginal History. An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre. Brian Crow and Chris Banfield. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 61-77.
Gilbert, Helen. Sightlines: Race, Gender, and Nation in Contemporary Australian Theatre. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA: University of Michigan Press, 1998.
Turcotte, Gerry. Jack Davis: The Maker of History. Pymble, NSW: Angus and Robertson, 1994.
Casey, Maryrose. 'Australian Drama Since 1970'. A Companion to Australian Literature Since 1900. Ed. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer Rochester, New York, USA: Camden House, 2007. 219-32.
Bruce Dawe
Donald Bruce Dawe was born in Fitzroy, Victoria on 15 February 1930. Leaving school at 16, he worked as a labourer, farmhand, clerk, gardener and postman. From 1959 to 1968 Dawe served in the RAAF, including spending time in Malaysia. During his time in the Service, he completed his first degree and published his first three volumes of poetry.
Dawe taught English and History at Downlands College, Toowoomba before accepting a position as Lecturer in Literature at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (later the University of Southern Queensland). Following completion of both Master's and Doctoral degrees, Dawe was made Associate Professor. Retired in 1993, Dawe now lives in Caloundra.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Bruce Dawe believes poets are like neighbours – just every-day ordinary people who just happen to have a way with words. For this reason, he is often described as 'the people's poet'.
In the Introduction to Sometime Gladness (2001) Dawe alludes to his need to write as akin to coming to terms with something 'bugging us'. He also talks of these concerns as trying to find the answer to such human questions as: 'what it is like to be in love, or in a war, or in a city, or in a dream…'.1
In the early years (1950s, 1960s), Dawe's poetry engaged the Australian reader because, according to Thomas Shapcott, he was 'quite different: at once vernacular and expressive of the new, post-war, outer-suburban hinterland. It was a language and a culture previously untapped in our writing, and Dawe gave expression to it with humour and very considerable verbal skill.'2
As his poetry matured, Dawe consolidated and extended his work by extensive use of metaphors which he used to convey recurring themes in his poetry. These metaphors reflect his passionate belief in the meaning of life and include
intolerance of injustice and undeserved privilege, a respect for the abilities and potential of every human being…a distrust of unqualified general assertions, cheerful humility in the face of life's puzzling qualities, a sense of the brevity and changeableness of life, a passionate devotion to the principle that it is the right and duty of citizens to protest against autocracy and suppression, and, of course, a finely developed sense of the inane and the ludicrous.'3
In the Anthology, Bruce Dawe, the man, the poet and the poetry are presented through a selection of critical articles, interviews and a review.
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Bruce Dawe to new readers.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Bruce Dawe's entry at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Dibble, Brian and Bruce Bennett. 'An Interview with Bruce Dawe'.
Haskell, Dennis. 'Bruce Dawe, The Ordinary and Extraordinary Bloke.'
O'Sullivan, Vincent. 'Untitled: Review of Sometimes Gladness: Collected Poems 1954-1982'.
Wright, John M. 'Bruce Dawe's Poetry'.
Yeabsley, C.D. 'Interview with Bruce Dawe'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Bruce Dawe and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Goodwin, Ken ed. Bruce Dawe : Essays and Opinions. Melbourne, Vic: Longman Cheshire, 1990.
Goodwin, Ken L. Adjacent Worlds: A Literary Life of Bruce Dawe. Melbourne, Vic: Longman Cheshire, 1988.
Rowe, Noel. Modern Australian Poets. South Melbourne, Vic: Sydney University Press (in association with Oxford University Press), 1994.
Shaw, Basil John. Times and Seasons: An Introduction to Bruce Dawe. Melbourne, Vic: Cheshire, 1974.
Haskell, Dennis. Attuned to Alien Moonlight: The Poetry of Bruce Dawe. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 2003.
Davis, Carmel Bardon. 'Bruce Dawe'. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Ed Selina Samuels. New York: Gale Research, 2004. 63-70.
Michael Gow
Michael William Gow was born in Sydney on 14 February 1955. He attended the University of Sydney where, as a student, he both acted and directed with the university Dramatic Society. In the 1980s Gow appeared in film, television and theatre productions and during this time, his first play, The Kid (1982) was produced. Other plays have followed, notably Away (1986) which continues to be his most memorable contribution to theatre as a playwright. Michael Gow is highly regarded as both playwright and director and is currently the artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
In the Anthology, Michael Gow is represented by two articles. In the first, Veronica Kelly examines the political patterns existing in Australian plays, including Michael Gow's 1841 (1988). In the second, Paul Makeham has a closer look at The Kid.
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Michael Gow to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Michael Gow's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Kelly, Veronica. 'The Melodrama of Defeat: Political Patterns in Some Colonial and Contemporary Australian Plays'.
Makeham, Paul. '"The City's Surrounded by Fire": Michael Gow's The Kid'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Michael Gow and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Carroll, Dennis. Australian Contemporary Drama. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press, 1994.
Simon, Luke. Michael Gow's Plays: A Thematic Approach. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press 1991.
Webby, Elizabeth. Modern Australian Plays. Sydney, NSW: Sydney University Press, 1993.
Dorothy Hewett
Dorothy Coade Hewett was born on 21 May 1923 in Perth, and spent her childhood on an isolated farm in Wickepin, WA. Educated at home via correspondence lessons, Hewett showed an early affinity to poetry, and by the age of 19, her poetry was appearing in the journal Meanjin.
As a young woman, Dorothy Hewett joined the Communist Party, resigning in 1968 in protest at the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia. Living in Sydney 1948-1960, Hewett was very involved in Party activities and lived and worked in factories in the poorer areas of Sydney.
In 1960, as a mature-aged student, Hewett resumed the university studies at the University of Western Australia which she had begun as a young adult years before. She graduated with an Arts degree and was employed as a tutor in the English Department for some years before moving to NSW.
Dorothy Hewett was writer-in-residence at universities in Australia and the USA. She was also awarded eight fellowships by the Literature Board of the Australia Council and had a lifetime Emeritus Fellowship from the Literature Board. She was also made a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to literature.
Dorothy Hewett died on 25 August 2002.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Dorothy Hewett's oeuvre includes many collections of poetry, novels and plays. Yet, as Nicole Moore notes in A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900 (2007), Hewett might not have a 'single voice, nor an identifiably dominant literary character'; her work has always depended on a variety of 'figures, metaphors and imaginative landscapes that appear across forms and genres.'4
At the very heart of Hewett's work is the search or quest for a perhaps elusive self. This is particularly true in regards to her poetry and drama. Indeed, her verse has been described as being 'confessional and romantic in theme, wryly humorous, frankly bawdy [and] varied in tone and rich in imagery.'5
In the Anthology, Dorothy Hewett is presented through three articles, beginning with an interview in which she discusses her work. This is followed by a review of A Tremendous World in Her Head: Selected Poems (1990) and finally, an article written by Hewett herself.
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce Dorothy Hewett to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Dorothy Hewett's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Baker, Candida. 'Dorothy Hewett'.
Bennett, Bruce. 'Dorothy Hewett's Garden and City'.
Bourke, Lawrence. 'Untitled: Review of A Tremendous World in Her Head: Selected Poems'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Dorothy Hewett and her work. For a more extensive listing, Click here (subscription required) to go to the AustLit entry.
Hewett, Dorothy. Wild Card: An Autobiography, 1923-1958. Ringwood, Vic: McPhee Gribble, 1991.
Bennett, Bruce ed. Dorothy Hewett: Selected Critical Essays. South Fremantle, WA Fremantle Press, 1995.
Williams, Margaret. Dorothy Hewett: The Feminine as Subversion. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press, 1992.
Moore, Nicole. 'Dorothy Hewett'. A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer. Rochester NY: Camden House, 2007. 321-34.
Henry Lawson
Born in Grenfell, New South Wales on 17 June 1867, Henry Lawson was registered at birth as 'Henry (Lawson) Larsen', Larsen being the original name, Lawson the anglicised. Sporadic education at several schools was followed by working as a carpenter for his father. In 1883 he moved to Sydney where his mother Louisa edited the periodical the Republican. Four years later, in 1887, the Bulletin published his poem 'A Song of the Republic' and in the following decade, Lawson wrote most of the work he is now famous for. Thereafter, his work suffered as he battled both alcoholism and mental illness.
Lawson died at Abbotsford on 2 September 1922.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
The articles in the Anthology reflect Henry Lawson's literary legacy, that is, the iconic images in his poetry of the Australian bush and the people who lived there. Like the articles for Marcus Clarke, they reflect the changing perceptions of Lawson and his work over the decades. In the earliest article, Brian Matthews (1967) argues that Lawson's theme of madness helps define feelings of loneliness and alienation. In his other article, published in 1972, Matthews compares 'The Drover's Wife' with 'Water Them Geraniums' and concludes that the latter has a level of 'depth and quality' not found in the former. Chris Wallace-Crabbe's (1972) reading of Joe Wilson and His Mates explores the idea that these stories can be viewed as a unified work, while Kay Schaffer (1988) examines the woman issue in Lawson's fiction. Christopher Lee (1991) examines the power base of the National and Imperial in Lawson's work, while Michael Wilding argues that including an awareness of Lawson's socialist vision into a reading can lead to a deeper understanding and interpretation of the work.
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Henry Lawson to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Henry Lawson's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Lee, Christopher. 'What Colour Are the Dead: Madness, Race and the National Gaze in Henry Lawson's The Bush Undertaker'.
Matthews, Brian. 'The Drover's Wife Writ Large: One Measure of Lawson's Achievement'.
________ '"The Nurse and Tutor of Eccentric Minds": Some Developments in Lawson's Treatment of Madness'.
Schaffer, Kay. 'Henry Lawson: The People's Poet'.
Wallace-Crabbe, Chris. 'Lawson's Joe Wilson: A Skeleton Novel'.
Wilding, Michael. 'Henry Lawson's Socialist Vision'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Henry Lawson and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Blainey, Geoffrey, ed. Henry Lawson. Melbourne, Vic: Text Publishing, 2002.
Lee, Christopher. City Bushman: Henry Lawson and the Australian Imagination. Fremantle, WA: Curtin University Books, 2004.
Roderick, Colin, ed. Henry Lawson Criticism 1894-1971. Sydney, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1972.
______ Henry Lawson: A life. North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1991.
Lee, Christopher. 'Henry Lawson (1867-1922)'. Australian Literature, 1788-1914. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2001. 217-33.
David Malouf
George Joseph David Malouf was born in Brisbane on 20 March 1934. Of Lebanese and English heritage, Malouf spent his childhood in the inner suburb of South Brisbane. He attended the University of Queensland, where he graduated with an honours degree in language and literature. In the years 1959-1968, Malouf was in Europe and England, supporting himself first as a supply teacher in London, then as a permanent teacher in Birkenhead. Returning to Australia in 1968, Malouf spent the next ten years lecturing in literature, first as a senior tutor, then as a lecturer, at the University of Sydney. With the publication of An Imaginary Life in 1978, Malouf became a full time writer. In the 30 years which have followed, Malouf has consolidated his position as a literary author of distinction both in Australia and internationally. In early 1998, the University of Sydney awarded Malouf the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
David Malouf enjoys a diverse career as an author of poetry, fiction, short story, drama, non-fiction and libretti. His first collection of poems was published in Four Poets in 1962. This was followed by Bicycle and Other Poems (1970) and Neighbours in a Thicket (1974). A year later, in 1975, Malouf's first novel, Johnno, was published.
Queensland, in particular his childhood experiences in Brisbane, have influenced Malouf's work. For example, Johnno (1975) is set in war-time Brisbane while the first part of Fly Away Peter (1981) is set in pre-war Brisbane. Recurring themes in Malouf's work include 'the relationships between past and present, continuity and change, animal and human, and the role of language as a mediator of experience'.6
In the Anthology, the selection of articles relating to David Malouf and his work includes an interview and two reviews of his novellas Fly Away Peter (1981) and Child's Play (1982), and Remembering Babylon (1993). The three critical articles investigate Malouf's overarching theme of self. Peter Bishop draws on the inner world in An Imaginary Life (1978), while Mark Byron explores the relation of self and other as themes in An Imaginary Life and Remembering Babylon. Martin Leer, on the other hand, takes an altogether different perspective, by viewing Malouf's theme of self as a form of geography.
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce David Malouf to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring David Malouf's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Baker, Candida. 'David Malouf'.
Bishop, Peter. 'David Malouf and the Language of Exile'.
Brooks, David. 'Untitled: Review of Fly Away Peter and Child's Play'.
Byron, Mark. 'Crossing Borders of the Self in the Fiction of David Malouf'.
Leer, Martin. 'At the Edge: Geography and the Imagination in the Work of David Malouf'.
Taylor, Andrew. 'Untitled: Review of Remembering Babylon'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of David Malouf and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Malouf, David. 12 Edmondstone Street. London: Chatto & Windus, 1985.
Indyk, Ivor. David Malouf. Australian Writers Series. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Neilsen, Philip. Imagined Lives: A Study of David Malouf. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1996.
Nettelbeck, Amanda, ed. Provisional Maps: Critical Essays on David Malouf. Perth, WA: UWA Centre for Studies in Australia Literature, 1994.
Randall, Don. David Malouf. Contemporary World Writers Series. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2007.
Tulip, James. David Malouf: Johnno, Short Stories, Poems, Essays and Interview. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1990.
Rooney, Brigid. 'David Malouf'. Australian Writers, 1950-1975. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2004. 214-22.
Scheckter, John. 'David Malouf'. A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900. Ed. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007. 257-68.
Sally Morgan
Sally Jane Morgan (birth name Milroy) was born in Perth, Western Australia on 18 January 1951. Her father William died when Morgan was a young child, and she and her four siblings were raised by their mother, Gladys, and their maternal grandmother.
Completing a degree at the University of Western Australia in 1974 (majoring in psychology), Morgan has continued her studies with postgraduate diplomas in Counselling Psychology and Computing and Library Studies.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Sally Morgan discovered her Aboriginal ancestry while in her teens and it was this discovery which led to researching her family's history and the writing of the autobiographical work My Place (1987).
In the Anthology, the articles chosen relate to My Place. Rosanne Kennedy situates the work as a collective text in which Morgan's autobiography frames the transcribed oral testimonies of Arthur, Gladys and Daisy (235). Sue Thomas, on the other hand, chooses to look at My Place as a work embedded in Aboriginal heritage – hence the title 'Aboriginal Subjection and Affirmation'. The final article presents two reviews of My Place.
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Sally Morgan to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Sally Morgan's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Gare, Nene and Patricia Crawford. 'Sally Morgan's My Place: Two Views'.
de Groen, Frances 'Healing, Wholeness and Holiness in My Place'.
Kennedy, Rosanne. 'The Narrator as Witness: Testimony, Trauma and Narrative Form in My Place'.
Thomas, Sue. 'Aboriginal Subjection and Affirmation'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Sally Morgan and her work, My Place. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Bird, Delys and Dennis Haskell. Whose Place? A Study of Sally Morgan's My Place. Pymble, NSW: Angus and Robertson, 1992.
Hammond, Derryn, Jo-Anne Reid and Marnie O'Neill. 'The Background to My Place: An Aboriginal Story'. Autobiography: the Writer's Story. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Press, 1988. 28-31.
Smith, Glenda, and Wendy Atkins. My Place. Glebe, NSW: Pascal Press, 2000.
Strauss, Dagmar. 'Sally Morgan.' Facing Writers: Australia's Leading Writers Talk with Dagmar Strauss. Crows Nest, NSW: ABC Books, 1990. 51-63.
Lamond, Julieanne. 'Sally Morgan.' Australian Writers 1975-2000. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2006. 244-48.
Les Murray
Leslie Allan Murray was born in Nabiac, a small village on the NSW mid-north coast, on 17 October 1938. Raised on his grandfather's dairy farm, he attended local schools including Taree High School before moving to Sydney to attend university in 1957. While at University of Sydney, Murray began to write poetry. Leaving university before graduating, Murray spent four years at the Australian National University in Canberra working as a translator. He later returned to university and completed his degree. Since 1971, Murray has been a freelance writer, including time spent as writer-in-residence at a number of universities. He has also been the editor of Poetry Australia, worked as poetry editor for Angus and Robertson and literary editor of Quadrant.
In 1999, Les Murray was made an honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He has received an honorary D. Litt from the University of New England and is a member of the Order of Australia.
Les Murray lives in Bunyah, NSW.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Les Murray's work has been published internationally and has received a level of recognition which is outstanding for an Australian poet and his work. He has been described as a prolific writer whose 'oeuvre comprises a wide range of literary forms including lyric and narrative poetry, song cycles, verse novels, essays, social commentary and literary criticism.'7
In the Anthology, the selection of articles relating to Les Murray and his work include two early interviews, undertaken in 1986 and 1992 respectively, and three articles. Les Murray's poetry is described as 'impressive for its technical brilliance as well as its remarkable linguistic inventiveness and its exploration of rich and diverse themes.'8
The three articles selected for this Anthology draw on this description in equally diverse ways. In 'Naming the Landscape: Les Murray's Literary Language,' David Headon critiques the way in which Murray has turned an Australian language into a literary language making it a tool for naming and discovery, not exploitation (Headon 71), while in '"...The Frequent Image of Farms": A Profile of Les Murray,' Graham Kinross-Smith looks at Les Murray's poetry through a prism of biography. Finally, Martin Leer argues in '"This Country Is my Mind": Les Murray's Poetics of Place' that place for Murray is a site from where time flows and, by return to which, time is regenerated (Leer 40).
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Les Murray to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Les Murray's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Baker, Candida. 'Les A. Murray'.
Headon, David. 'Naming the Landscape: Les Murray's Literary Language'.
Kinross-Smith, Graham. '"...The Frequent Image of Farms": A Profile of Les Murray'.
Leer, Martin. '"This Country Is My Mind": Les Murray's Poetics of Place'.
Williams, Barbara. 'An Interview with Les A. Murray'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Les Murray and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Alexander, Peter F. Les Murray: A Life in Progress. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Gleeson-White, Jane. 'The Buladelah-Taree Holiday Song Cycle: Les Murray.' Australian Classics: Fifty Great Writers and Their Celebrated Works. By Jane Gleeson-White. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2007. 274-78.
Hergenhan, Laurie and Bruce Clunies Ross, eds. The Poetry of Les Murray: Critical Essays. Special issue of Australian Literary Studies Vol 20.2. St Lucia Qld: Queensland University Press, 2001.
Matthews, Steven. Les Murray. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 2001.
Senn, Werner. 'Les Murray'. A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900. Ed. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007. 269-80.
Louis Nowra
Louis Nowra was born Louis Doyle on 12 December 1950 in Melbourne, Victoria. He attended La Trobe University, but he left without graduating, choosing to live an itinerant lifestyle including working as an untrained teacher, truck driver and stewarding on the trans-Tasman ferry. In the mid-1970s, however, Nowra found his niche in the theatre, not only as a playwright in theatre, film, radio and television, but also as an administrator, director and translator. Nowra has also worked at the University of Queensland as both writer-in-residence and lecturer. Griffith University bestowed an honorary doctorate on Nowra in 1996.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
The commonality in Louis Nowra's work is in his 'interest in black comedy and gothic themes that explore fundamental issues in human individuality.'9 In later years, however, Nowra also explored the concepts of imperialism and oppression and the effects these have on the individual.
In the Anthology, Gerry Turcotte takes a closer look at two of Nowra's plays – Sunrise (1983) and The Golden Age (1985). He argues that while all of Nowra's plays are concerned with the development or the suppression of the inner voice, these two plays represent his 'most accomplished and complex works in this area' (66). In Veronica Kelly's article 'Apocalypse and After: Historical Visions in Some Recent Australian Drama,' the two plays are situated within the wider nexus of Australian drama in the 1980's. Keeping with the 80's theme, the final article is an interview with Nowra which took place in 1987.
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce Louis Nowra to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Louis Nowra's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Kelly, Veronica. 'Apocalypse and After: Historical Visions in Some Recent Australian Drama'.
Turcotte, Gerry. 'The Circle Is Burst' : Eschatological Discourse in Louis Nowra's Sunrise and The Golden Age'.
Turcotte, Gerry. '"Perfecting the Monologue of Silence": An Interview with Louis Nowra'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Louis Nowra and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Nowra, Louis. The Twelfth of Never. Sydney, NSW: Picador, 1999.
____ Shooting to the Moon: A Memoir. Sydney, NSW: Picador, 2004.
____ Chihuahuas, Women and Me : Essays. Artarmon, NSW: Giramondo Publishing, 2005
Kelly, Veronica ed. Louis Nowra. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1987
Kelly, Veronica. The Theatre of Louis Nowra. Strawberry Hills, NSW: Currency Press, 1998.
Turcotte, Gerry. 'Louis Nowra'. Australian Writers 1975-2000. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2006. 249-59.
Hannie Rayson
Hannie Rayson was born Helen Judith Rayson on 31 March 1957 in Melbourne. Rayson, a graduate of Melbourne University, has been a professional writer since the age of 24, working at various times as a freelance journalist, an editor, playwright and scriptwriter.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Hannie Rayson is, in some ways, an enigma. Denise Varney, whose interview with Rayson is part of this anthology, writes
'...her plays are not easily fixed to a single position. She is a woman writer who writes women characters but does not work within the frame of feminist theatre. She was never a member of the women's theatre groups of the 1970s and 1980s and her mentors have been male rather than female.' (Interview 146)
In much of her work, Rayson explores contemporary social issues through a portrayal of middle-class Australia. This is particularly true of Hotel Sorrento (1990), Falling from Grace (1994) and Scenes from a Separation with Andrew Bovell (1996), all of which have as a major theme of betrayal – be it family, marital or of friendship.
In her later work, in particular Life after George (2000), Rayson relegates the insular world of the personal to the background as she explores the public (and intellectual) world of the university.
Rayson sees her role in writing mainstream plays as being one where she 'engage[s] with the forums of power': 'I do not want a theatre which engages and challenges [audiences] in mainstream theatres. I want a theatre which engages with the world they live in' (Power Plays 6-7).
In the Anthology, Hannie Rayson is presented through three articles.
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce Hannie Rayson to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Hannie Rayson's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Fensham, Rachel and Denise Varney. 'Redistribution of Power: Hannie Rayson'.
Glow, Hilary. '[Interview]: Class Action'.
Varney, Denise. 'The Desire to Affirm and Challenge: An Interview with Hannie Rayson'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Hannie Rayson and her work within the context of Australian playwright and drama/theatre criticism. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Fensham, Rachel and Denise Varney. The Dolls' Revolution: Australian Theatre and Cultural Imagination. Melbourne, Vic: Scholarly Publishing, 2007.
Glow, Hilary. Power Plays: Australian Theatre and the Public Agenda. Strawberry Hills, NSW: Currency Press, 2007.
Radic, Leonard. The State of Play: The Revolution in the Australian Theatre Since the 1960s. Ringwood, Vic: Penguin, 1991.
Casey, Maryrose. 'Australian Drama Since 1970'. A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900. Ed. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer. Rochester, NY, USA: Camden House, 2007. 219-30.
Henry Handel Richardson
Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, who wrote as Henry Handel Richardson, was born in Melbourne in 1870. Her parents, Walter and Mary, were English immigrants, arriving in Australia in the early 1850s. Richardson attended the Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne and in 1888, the family (her father died in 1879) left for Germany. Richardson studied piano at the Royal Conservatorium, graduating with honours in 1892. After marrying John George Robertson in 1895, Richardson lived in Strasburg and London. It was during this time that she embarked on a career in writing. She wrote seven novels, two collections of short stories and an autobiography. Richardson died in Sussex in 1946.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Henry Handel Richardson's first publications were not her own; they were translations of Scandinavian works from German. However, in 1908, Heinemann in London and Duffield in New York published her first novel, Maurice Guest, set in Leipzig at the turn of the twentieth century.
In the Anthology, the selection of articles relating to HHR, as she is often known, and her work concentrate on aspects of her best-known novels The Getting of Wisdom (1910) and The Fortunes of Richard Mahony a trilogy: Australia Felix (1917), The Way Home (1925) and Ultima Thule (1929).
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce Henry Handel Richardson to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Henry Handel Richardson and her works have been widely studied over many years. Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Henry Handel Richardson's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Ackland, Michael. 'A School of Authority: Richardson's Personal Investment in The Getting of Wisdom'.
Brady, Veronica. '"A Thick Crumbly Slice of Life": The Fortunes of Richard Mahony as a Cultural Monument'.
Mead, Philip. 'Death and Home-Work: The Origins of Narrative in The Fortunes of Richard Mahony'.
McFarlane, Brian. 'The Getting of Wisdom: Not "Merry" at all'.
Pratt, Catherine. 'What Had She to Do with Angels? Gender and Narrative in The Fortunes of Richard Mahony'.
_______ 'Fictions of Development: Henry Handel Richardson's The Getting of Wisdom'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Henry Handel Richardson and her work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Richardson, Henry Handel. Myself When Young. Melbourne, Vic: Heinemann 1948.
Ackland, Michael. Henry Handel Richardson: A Life. Port Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Clark, Axel. Finding Herself in Fiction: Henry Handel Richardson: 1896-1910. Melbourne, Vic: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2001.
De Vries, Susanna. Ethel Florence Lindesay (Henry Handel) Richardson. Great Australian Women: From Federation to Freedom. By Susanna De Vries. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins, 2001. 215-48 notes 340.
Ackland, Michael. Henry Handel Richardson. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Gleeson-White, Jane. The Getting of Wisdom: Henry Handel Richardson (1870-1946). Australian Classics: Fifty Great writers and Their Celebrated Works. By Jane Gleeson-White. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2007. 81-85.
Green, Dorothy. 'Power-Games in the Novels of Henry Handel Richardson.' Who Is She? Images of Women in Australian Fiction. Ed. Shirley Walker. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1983. 84-97.
Lever, Susan and Catherine Pratt. Henry Handel Richardson: The Getting of Wisdom, Stories, Selected Prose and Correspondence. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1997.
McLeod, Karen. Henry Handel Richardson: A Critical Study. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Goldsworthy, Kerryn. 'Fiction from 1900 to 1970'. The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature. Ed. Elizabeth Webby. Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press, 2000: 105-33.
Lever, Susan. 'Henry Handel Richardson (Ethel Florence Lindesay Robertson) (1870-1946)'. Australian Literature, 1788-1914. Ed. Selina Samuels Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2001. 313-26.
Kenneth Slessor
Kenneth Slessor was born Kenneth Adolf Schlosser in Orange, NSW on 27 March 1901. Educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School, Slessor joined the Sydney newspaper the Sun in 1920 as a cadet journalist, the beginning of a long career in journalism which would sustain him financially for much of his life.
Slessor died in Sydney on 30 June 1971.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Kenneth Slessor has made an enduring contribution to Australian poetry. Moreover, he is often said to have been instrumental in ushering in the modern era of Australian poetry, with verse which 'explores the themes of art, nature, beauty and time in the romantic-Symbolist tradition.'10
In the Anthology, the five articles selected cover a range in exploration and time as they relate to Kenneth Slessor and his poetry. In both Dennis Haskell's and Graham Kinross-Smith's articles, Slessor is portrayed through a distinct biographical framework. Noel Macainsh, in his article 'Aestheticism and Reality in the Poetry of Kenneth Slessor,' argues that aesthetic principles are an important part of Slessor's work while A. K. Thomson considers the poems written between 1927 and 1932. Finally, Kate Lilley's '"Living Backward": Slessor and Masculine Elegy' examines the role of elegy in Slessor's poetry.
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Kenneth Slessor to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Kenneth Slessor's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Haskell, Dennis. '"My Rather Tedious Hero": A Portrait of Kenneth Slessor'.
Kinross-Smith, Graham. 'Kenneth Slessor'.
Lilley, Kate. '"Living Backward": Slessor and Masculine Elegy'.
Macainsh, Noel. 'Aestheticism and Reality in the Poetry of Kenneth Slessor'.
Thomson, A. K. 'From Kenneth Slessor: An Essay in Interpretation'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Kenneth Slessor and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Dutton, Geoffrey. Kenneth Slessor: A Biography. Ringwood, Vic: Viking O'Neil, 1991.
Caesar, Adrian. Kenneth Slessor. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Mead, Philip, ed. Kenneth Slessor: Critical Readings. St Lucia, Qld: Queensland University Press, 1997.
Spurr, Barry. The Poetry of Kenneth Slessor. Glebe, NSW: Pascal Press, 1999.
Caesar, Adrian. 'Kenneth Slessor (1901-1971)'. Australian Writers 1915-1950. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2002. 320-30.
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White was born in London on the 28 May 1912. His parents, Victor and Ruth (née Withycombe), returned to Australia, with their son, six months later where the family settled in Sydney. As a teenager, White returned to England and attended Cheltenham College, followed by two years working as a jackaroo in Australia. He attended Kings College, in Cambridge, England (1932-1935) and studied German and French languages and literatures. Staying in England after graduation, White's first novel Happy Valley was published in 1939. World War Two intervened, and, in 1940, White found himself commissioned as an Air Force intelligence officer serving in the Middle East. Returning to Australia in 1948, White, along with his life-long partner, Manoly Lascaris, settled in Castle Hill, then a farming community, on the outskirts of Sydney. In 1964, the couple moved to Centennial Park in inner Sydney.
Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973.
White died in Sydney on 30 September 1990.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
The two major sources of influences on Patrick White's writing – the Australian landscape and his experiences of European literature and thought could not be, at least on the face of it, more diametrically opposed. The barrenness that is Australia, juxtaposes with the richness and the layers of Europe. Moreover, his work 'explores the nature of good and evil, love and hate, life and death, the material and the spiritual world, suffering and solitude.'11
Patrick White's novel A Fringe of Leaves (1976) can be categorised as a historical novel in that it is set in the 1830s and yet, it has an element of truth as it is based on a real life story of Mrs Eliza Fraser.
In the Anthology, the novel is represented by three articles which discuss the novel in different, yet wholly similar ways. The word 'civilisation' is omnipresent in all three and it is this concept of 'civilisation,' the gap as Dennis Haskell calls it 'between instinctive thought or action and socially acceptable, 'civilised' behaviour'12 that is at the heart of the novel. It is suggested that the articles be read in the order they appear, as there are obvious links in the discussion between Veronica Brady's and Dennis Haskell's articles. The third article, by Laurie Hergenhan, gives another perspective on civilisation
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce Patrick White to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Patrick White's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Brady, Veronica. 'A Fringe of Leaves: Civilization by the Skin of Our Own Teeth'.
Haskell, Dennis. '"A Lady Only by Adoption": Civilization in A Fringe of Leaves'.
Hergenhan, Laurie. 'The City or the Desert: Patrick White's A Fringe of Leaves'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Patrick White and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required)
During, Simon. Patrick White. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Marr, David. Patrick White: A Life. London, UK: Jonathan Cape, 1991.
McLaren, John and Mary-Ellen Ryan, eds. Prophet from the Desert: Critical Essays on Patrick White. Red Hill South, Vic: Red Hill Press, 1995.
Schaffer, Kay. In the Wake of First Contact: The Eliza Fraser Stories. Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Ackland, Michael. 'Patrick White (1912-1990)'. Australian Writers 1915-1950.' Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2002. 400-15.
Beston, John. 'Patrick White'. A Companion to Australian Literature Since 1900. Ed. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer. Rochester, New York, USA: Camden House, 2007. 247-56.
David Williamson
David Keith Williamson was born in Melbourne, Victoria on 24 February 1942. Educated at Bairnsdale high school, he spent his final school year in Melbourne before entering Monash University, completing a mechanical engineering degree in 1964.
Although he used his degree to gain employment, first at General Motors Holden then as a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Swinburne Institute of Technology, Williamson was never satisfied with his work. This void, he filled by enrolling in a postgraduate degree in social psychology, as well as by writing for the theatre.
Diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in 2005, Williamson temporarily retired from writing. In 2008, however, his new play Scarlett O'Hara at the Crimson Parrot was produced by the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Williamson has received Honorary Doctorates of Literature from the University of Sydney (1988), Monash University (1990), Swinburne University of Technology (1996) and the University of Queensland (2004).
David Williamson currently lives in Queensland.A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
David Williamson's commercial success came with The Coming of Stork, a full length play first performed in 1970. This was followed with The Removalists (1972) and Don's Party (1973). Since this time, Williamson has continued to write successful plays, some, being adapted for film. Williamson has also written scripts specifically for film, notably Gallipoli (1981).
Described as having 'raucous wit, naturalistic plots and settings, fast-moving, scatological dialogue and recognizable social types, brilliantly seized and satirized'13 Williamson's plays depict Australian life through the lens of social interaction and power games in which 'colliding temperaments are the subject of his comedy and the hypocrisies, insecurities, defences, aggressions, betrayals and complicities that they generate.'14
In the Anthology, the articles selected include an interview, in which Williamson discusses his work, an early profile of the playwright and his work, and a critical article relating to Dead White Males (1995).
The purpose of the articles included in the Anthology is to introduce David Williamson to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring David Williamson's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Baker, Candida. 'David Williamson'.
Devlin-Glass, Frances. '"Every Man Who Is Not Petruchio Doth Wish He Was": Postfeminist Anxiety and Resistance in Dead White Males'.
Tobin, Meryl. 'David Williamson: Playwright – A Profile'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of David Williamson and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Williamson, Kristin. David Williamson: Behind the Scenes. Camberwell, Vic: Viking, 2009.
Brisbane, Katharine. David Williamson: A Celebration. Canberra, ACT: National Library of Australia, 2003.
Casey, Maryrose. 'Australian Drama since 1970'. A Companion to Australian Literature Since 1900. Ed. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer. Rochester, New York (State) USA: Camden House, 2007. 219-232
Kiernan, Brian. 'David Williamson'. Australian Writers, 1950-1975. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2004. 325-34.
Tim Winton
Timothy John Winton was born on 4 August 1960 in Karrinyup, Western Australia. Determined to become a writer from a young age, Winton enrolled in the creative writing course at the West Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University). His career as a professional writer began in 1981 when the manuscript of the novel An Open Swimmer (1982) received first prize in the 1981 Australian/Vogel National Literary Award. Other novels followed, including, The Shallows (1984), Cloudstreet (1992) and Dirt Music (2002), all of which have won the Miles Franklin Award.
Winton lives in Western Australia and is involved in social and environmental causes.
A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Tim Winton is considered to be one of Australia's foremost contemporary literary authors. At the same time, his novels also enjoy immense popular appeal and readership. While Winton has diversified by writing novels for children (The Bugalugs Bum Thief) and young adults (Lockie Leonard series), he is best known for his literary novels for adults.
In the Anthology, one of these, Cloudstreet (1992), is the main focus; it is this novel which is most studied by senior students at Australian Secondary Schools. The novel is represented by three critical articles and one review. As Robert Dixon's article seeks to posit Winton within the wider field of Australian literature, It is suggested that you read this article first. Michael McGirr's article, 'Go Home Said the Fish' looks at Cloudstreet through the prism of nostalgia and home, while Stuart Murray's 'Tim Winton's "New Tribalism": Cloudstreet and Community,' presents family in Cloudstreet as a form of tribalism. A review of the novel completes the selection.
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Tim Winton to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles, can be found by exploring Tim Winton's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Anthony, Marilyn. 'Untitled : Review of Cloudstreet'.
Dixon, Robert. 'Tim Winton, Cloudstreet and the Field of Australian Literature'.
McGirr, Michael. 'Go Home Said the Fish : A Study of Tim Winton's Cloudstreet'.
Murray, Stuart. 'Tim Winton's "New Tribalism": Cloudstreet and Community'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Tim Winton and his work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Ben-Messahel, Salhia. Mind the Country: Tim Winton's Fiction. Crawley, WA: University of Western Australia, 2006.
Gleeson-White, Jane. 'Cloudstreet: Tim Winton (1960 - ).' Australian Classics: Fifty Great Writers and Their Celebrated Works. By Jane Gleeson-White. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2007: 323-27.
McGirr, Michael. Tim Winton: The Writer and His Work. South Yarra, Vic: Macmillan Education Australia, 1999.
McPhee, Hilary ed. Tim Winton: A Celebration. Canberra, ACY: National Library of Australia, 1999.
Rossiter, Richard and Lyn Jacobs eds. Reading Tim Winton. Pymble, NSW: Angus and Robertson, 1993.
Jacobs, Lyn. 'Tim Winton and West Australian Writing'. A Companion to Australian Literature Since 1900. Ed. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer. Rochester, New York, USA: Camden House, 2007. 307-19.
Rossiter, Richard. 'Tim Winton.' Australian Writers 1975-2000. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2006. 347-55.
Judith Wright
Judith Wright was born at Thalgarrah Station, near Armidale in NSW on 31 May 1915. She was educated at home and at the New England Girls' School in Armidale before studying philosophy and English literature at University of Sydney.
Wright's early poetry was published in newspapers like the Sydney Morning Herald, and periodicals like the Bulletin and Meanjin Papers. This was followed by the publication in 1946 of The Moving Image, a selection of her poetry. In the next 50 years, Judith Wright published a diverse range of work, including novels, short stories, criticism and anthologies.
In later life, Wright became increasingly involved with conservation issues and Aboriginal rights.
Judith Wright died in Canberra 25 June 2000.A more complete biographical note is available at AustLit. Click here (subscription required)
Judith Wright's long career as one of Australia's influential poets has been built on the exploration of several major themes. In the biography note at AustLit this is explained by saying:
'Her poetry, as a whole, exhibits a developing philosophical investigation into the relationship between language and cognition. Following the basic premises of Romanticism, much of Wright's poetry attempts to maintain a balance between the image produced by language and the object in nature. This investigation is informed by Wright's experience of war, birth, death, love and the degradation of the environment by European settlement.'15
In the Anthology, the three critical articles selected explore aspects of these major themes, while the two reviews – Shirley Walker's review of Fourth Quarter; and Philip Mead's discussion of Veronica Brady's biography of Judith Wright – offer further insights into both the woman and the poet.
The purpose of the articles is to introduce Judith Wright to new readers. A select bibliography of other secondary works is included below.
Additional reference material, both citations and full text articles can be found by exploring Judith Wright's AustLit entry. Click here (subscription required)
Bennett, Bruce. 'Judith Wright: Moralist'.
Hawke, John. '"The Moving Image": Judith Wright's Symbolist Language'.
Mead, Philip. 'Veronica Brady's Biography of Judith Wright'.
Walker, Shirley. 'A Note on Sense-Perception in the Poetry of Judith Wright'.
_____ 'Women Believe in the Moon'.
The following bibliography is an introduction to critical discussion of Judith Wright and her work. For a more extensive listing, click here to go to the AustLit entry (subscription required).
Brady, Veronica. South of My Days: A Biography of Judith Wright. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins, 1998.
Hope, A. D. Judith Wright. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Straus, Jennifer. Judith Wright. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Walker, Shirley. The Poetry of Judith Wright: A Search for Unity. Melbourne, Vic: Edward Arnold Australia, 1980.
________ Flame and Shadow: A Study of Judith Wright's Poetry. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1996.
Brady, Veronica. 'Judith Wright (1915-2000)'. Australian Writers, 1915-1950. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 2002. 416-28.
Footnotes
1 Bruce Dawe. Sometimes Gladness: Collected Poems, 1954 to 1997. Sydney, NSW: Pearson Education Australia, 2001. xiii.
2 Thomas W. Shapcott, ed. Introduction to Contemporary American and Australian Poetry. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1976. xxx.
3 Ken Goodwin, ed. Bruce Dawe Essays and Opinions. Melbourne, Vic: Longman Cheshire, 1990. 2-3.
4 Nicole Moore. 'Dorothy Hewett'. A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900. Ed. Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer. Rochester NY, USA: Camden House, 2007. 320.
5 William H. Wilde, Joy Hooton and Barry Andrews. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1991. 338.
6 William H. Wilde, Joy Hooton and Barry Andrews. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1991. 457.
7 See Les A Murray's biography at AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource www.austlit.edu.au
8 See biography at AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource.
9 See Louis Nowra's biography at AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource at www.austlit.edu.au
10 See Kenneth Slessor's biography at AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource www.austlit.edu.au
11 See Patrick White's biography at AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource www.austlit.edu.au
12 Dennis Haskell. '"A Lady Only by Adoption": Civilization in A Fringe of Leaves' Southerly 47.4 (Dec. 1987): 433
13 William H. Wilde, Joy Hooton and Barry Andrews. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1991, 748.
14 William H. Wilde, Joy Hooton, Joy and Barry Andrews. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press, 1991, 748.
15 See: Judith Wright's biography at AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource www.austlit.edu.au
