AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Hecate has from the mid-1970s published work from cross-disciplinary perspectives that contest hegemonic received ideas regarding gender, class, ethnicity and race, and sexualities, and how these things have played out at particular times in particular places. In this issue, Fiona Duthie's article discusses some female characters in Janette Turner Hospital's novels who aim at 'interesting forms of internationalism' and who challenge 'cultural and political systems that seek to enforce division,' so that the can try 'to achieve the truth and justice thy so earnestly desire against the backdrop of the general bleakness.' While this could be said of many fictional female characters in much of the literature of the past decades, the reference her to 'bleakness' seems particularly apposite when 'interpreting the world' in 2016.' (Editorial 4)
Notes
-
Only literary material by or about Australian authors or with Australian themes are individually indexed. Other material in this issue includes:
– Speaking as a Settler Chinese Woman in Aotearoa New Zealand : An 'Utterly Charming Picture of Oriental Womanhood' by Grace Yee
– The Third Body : Cixous' Feminine Trinity by Yael Klangwisan
– Cover : Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox : Red Rain
Contents
- Chinese Puzzle in Seven Pieces, single work prose (p. 31-44)
- How I Tried to Change My Name, single work short story (p. 49-54)
-
Love in the Blitz,
single work
essay
(p. 55-64)
An investigation of Aileen Palmer's letters to her parents while she was living in London during the Blitz in 1940.
- Ambulance Station, single work short story (p. 65-67)
-
The Spirit of Anzaci"We are the songs that, silenced in their singing,",
single work
poetry
(p. 68)
Note: With title: We Are the Sons. Edited by Marilla North
-
Medium/Machine : The Writing of Rosa Praed and Nancy Harward,
single work
criticism
(p. 69-83)'The nineteenth century witnessed the arrival of new technologies such as the telegraph and typewriter, of which women were thought to be suitable operators because of their nimble fingers. Some were so efficient that their bodies seemed like machines, a notion which aligned with nineteenth-century conceptualisations of communications technology as a nervous system. Spiritualism also became popular at this time, and the cultural association of femininity and passivity offered many women an opportunity to become mediums. Some women combined the roles of typist and medium and, when their employers died, they continued to take dictation from the spiritual world. This essay examines how Nancy Harward, the lifelong companion of nineteenth century Australian novelist Rosa Praed, acted as both secretary and medium in their literary partnership. Harward's capacity to fall into a trance and speak as a slave girl in ancient Rome facilitated access to a literary authority which was otherwise denied to her. The essay also touches upon the queer intimacy provoked by new technologies such as the the telegraph, which allowed operators to figuratively touch its listeners, just as mediums affected their listeners in sittings. It concludes with a contemplation of the similarities between cyberspace and the spiritual realm of the nineteenth century, suggesting that these spaces enable women to articulate authoritative selves.' (68)
-
Feminising Orientalism : The Art of Hilda Rix Nicholas,
single work
criticism
(p. 92-105)'As more work emerges on the writing and art of European, British and American women produced over the last three centuries in what was known as the 'East' and the 'Orient,' the complicated nature of 'Orientalism' is becoming increasingly clear. In this essay, I examine some writing and paintings of Hilda Rix Nicholas in two visits to Morocco made by the Australian artist and her sister Elsie Rix during 1912 and 1914. I argue that Rix Nicholas occupied a counter-Orientalist position n the point of view she expressed in not only her letters, drawings and pictures, but also crucially in a lecture she delivered to the Woman's Society of Painters in 1920 after she had returned to Australia.' (92)
- The Painting, single work short story (p. 106-107)
- Homei"if only this genealogical path", single work poetry (p. 108)
- After the Downpouri"- warm furious raindrops -", single work poetry (p. 108)
- Belgrave Rdi"Stucco-fronted terraces", single work poetry (p. 109)
- Moscow Quinteti"A gaunt figure of skin and bone -", single work poetry (p. 110-112)
- The Colour of Massacrei"As a new century dawned white Australians were urged", single work poetry (p. 113-114)
- Her Namei"As if it were raw garlic, they bit into the layers of gossip", single work poetry (p. 115)
-
Crossing the Boundaries : The Versatility of Women in the Novels of Janette Turner Hospital,
single work
criticism
(p. 116-130)
'Over the last thirty years, Janette Turner Hospital has produced an oeuvre of work that is predominantly dark and unsettling. Many societies are presented as rigidly hierarchical and compartmentalized. Status and even identity are most often determined by the accidents of birth and circumstance. Perpetual conflict rages among the various factions and horrendous crimes are committed both globally and domestically against innocent individuals. However, as this article will demonstrate, though thoroughly acknowledging its might, these novels are not entirely resigned to the immutability of the status quo. Throughout her canon, Turner Hospital explores a sublet form of power that belongs principally to women. In the majority of works, at least one woman is able continuously and seamlessly to move from one class, creed or nation to another. Their peregrinations and metamorphoses reveal potentialities for cultural and political systems that seek to enforce division. From The Ivory Swing (1992) to The Claimant (2014), this article traces the means employed to such women to achieve the truth and justice they so earnestly desire set against the backdrop of the general bleakness.' (116)
