AustLit
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Downloadable data in excel format for the following topics is available:
Listed below is an explanation of the information contained in the different datasets.
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1. Australian Novels, 1830 to 1899
A description of the novel based on the forms in which it was published and their order, including, 'Book Only' (for titles only published in book form); 'Serial Only' (for titles only published in serial form); 'Serial then Book' (for titles published first as serials then as books); 'Book then Serial' (for titles published first as books then as serials); 'Same Year Book and Serial' (when serial and book versions of the novel came out in the same year); 'Book Also Serial' (in the one case where I could not determine whether the book preceded, or came out in the same year as, the serial); and 'Serial Much Later Book' (when book publication followed many decades after initial serialisation).
1ST PUBLISHED – the year when the novel was first published
1ST BOOK – where relevant, the year the novel was first published in book form
1ST SERIAL – where relevant, the year the novel was first published in serial form
TITLE – the title of the Australian novel
AUTHOR – the author/s of the Australian novel
GENDER – the author's gender, based on the listings in AustLit and, where none was included, on further research. To avoid mis-categorising pseudonymous authors I never assumed that an author was male or female based on their name. In cases where I could not determine if an author was male or female or when the novel was written by two or more authors of different genders, I categorised the author's gender as 'Unknown'.
IMPRINT – the publishers' name, as listed in AustLit. When the novel was published as a book, I listed the book publisher's imprint, regardless of whether the book was first serialised (this is in accordance with AustLit's listing of publishers); when there was no book publisher, I listed the periodical publisher
BOOK PUBLISHER – some companies publish books under more than one name. This distinction is not so relevant in the nineteenth as in the late twentieth century; however, where relevant, this column identifies the company behind the different imprints. In some cases I have standardised the listing in this column, including when the title was jointly published by two or more book publishers (listed as 'Joint publishing agreement') when the title was self-published (listed as 'The Author') or published by an individual (listed as 'An individual publishing another individual's work'). When the novel was only published in serial form, I listed the BOOK PUBLISHER as 'N/A'.
PERIODICAL PUBLISHER – the name of the periodical where the novel was serialised. When the tile was only published in book form, I listed the PERIODICAL PUBLISHER as 'N/A'.
DETAILS – this column contains my notes on the book or periodical publishers, gathered from AustLit and other sources. In cases where I was relatively sure but not certain of details about a publisher I indicated this with a question mark after the description. For titles that were published by two or more publishers, the detail field is marked 'Joint'.
BOOK PUBLISHER NATION – the 'nation' (I use the term Australia for all the colonies) where the book was first published.
PERIODICAL PUBLISHER NATION – the 'nation' (again, I refer to the colonies as Australia) where the serial was first published.
PLACE – the city or town where the book was published (except for titles jointly published by companies from different 'nations').
BOOK VOLUME – for those Australian novels that were published in book form, lists whether they were published in part issue, or as one, two or three volumes. When the novel was only published in serial form I listed the BOOK VOLUME as 'N/A'.
2. Australian Novels, 1945 to 2009
TYPE – a description of the novel based on the form in which it was originally published, including 'Book', 'Book Section', 'Edited Book' and 'Serial Novel'.
TITLE – the title of the Australian novel
AUTHOR – the author/s of the Australian novel
GENDER – the author's gender, based on the listings in AustLit and, where none is included, on further research. To avoid mis-categorising pseudonymous authors I never assumed that an author was male or female based on their name. In cases where I could not determine if an author was male or female or when the novel was written by authors of different genders, I categorised the author's gender as 'Unknown'.
YEAR – the year in which the novel was first published
IMPRINT – the publishers' name, as listed in AustLit
PUBLISHER – some companies publish books under more than one name; where relevant, this column identifies the company behind the different imprints. In some cases I have standardised the listing in this column, including when the title was jointly published by two or more book publishers (listed as 'Joint') and when the title was self-published (listed as 'The Author').
NATION – the country where the novel was first published.
DETAILS – this column contains my notes on publishers, gathered from AustLit and other sources.
SUBSIDY – titles where the cost of publication have been subsidised by the author are indicated with 'Yes'
PLACE – the city or town where the book was first published.
GENRE – 'Yes' or 'No' indicates whether the title is ascribed a genre in AustLit.
GENRE 1 / GENRE 2 / GENRE 3 – lists the genres allocated to the title in AustLit.
3. Critical Attention to Australian Novelists Overall, 1945 to 2006
(SECWORKS_ALL.CSV)The first column in this dataset is the year (from 1900 to 2006). The second column is the total number of 'works about' Australian novelists in AustLit for that year. The rest of the columns are in pairs: the first in each pair is the author's name; the second is the number of 'works about' that author for that year.
4. Critical Attention to Australian Novelists in Newspapers, 1950 to 2006
(SECWORKS_NEW.CSV)The first column in this dataset is the year (from 1950 to 2006). The second column is the total number of 'works about' Australian novelists in newspapers in AustLit for that year. The rest of the columns are in pairs: the first in each pair is the author's name; the second is the number of 'works about' that author in newspapers for that year.
5. Critical Attention to Australian Novelists in Academic (Peer-Reviewed) Journals, 1950 to 2006
(SECWORKS_ACA.CSV)The first column in this dataset is the year (from 1950 to 2006). The second column is the total number of 'works about' Australian novelists in academic (peer-reviewed) journals in AustLit for that year. Peer-reviewed journals were manually and retrospectively categorised based on what journals required peer review in 2007. The rest of the columns are in pairs: the first in each pair is the author's name; the second is the number of 'works about' that author in newspapers for that year.
6. Critical Attention to Australian Novelists in Literary Magazines, 1950 To 2006
(SECWORKS_LIT.CSV)The first column in this dataset is the year (from 1950 to 2006). The second column is the total number of 'works about' Australian novelists in literary magazines in AustLit for that year. Literary magazines were manually categorised. The rest of the columns are in pairs: the first in each pair is the author's name; the second is the number of 'works about' that author in newspapers for that year.
As I discuss in Reading by Numbers, the capacity of these three final datasets to indicate critical attention to Australian novelists is inhibited by the original search parameters used. We defined an 'Australian novelist' as anyone who had written at least one 'Australian novel'. As a result, certain authors – such as David Williamson, Dorothy Hewett, Judith Wright and Les Murray – appear near the top of the critical rankings. However, this position arises from discussion of their poetry or plays, not their novels. In an effort to improve the capacity of the data to indicate authors known as novelists, we removed from the results all authors with only one novel: it is those modified results that appear here.
For the purpose of my analysis in Reading by Numbers, this modification created another problem: namely, although I knew from our original analysis of the data that Helen Darville/Demidenko had received a large amount of critical attention (relating to her novel, The Hand that Signed the Paper) she was no longer included in the results. To avoid missing this author, when analysing the results for critical attention to Australian novelists, I manually counted the 'works about' Darville/Demidenko (overall, in newspapers and academic journals) to include her in the rankings for these different categories.
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