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Rachael Weaver Rachael Weaver i(A73318 works by) (a.k.a. Rachel Weaver)
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Rachael Weaver holds a MA and PhD from the University of Melbourne, where she has been a Research Fellow within the School of Culture and Communication. Her areas of interest include colonial Australian popular fiction and journalism, and nineteenth century crime and criminology. With Ken Gelder, she has edited the Anthology of Colonial Australian Fiction series and has also developed a digital archive of Australian colonial popular fiction http://www.apfa.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/home.html.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Colonial Australian Fiction : Character Types, Social Formations and the Colonial Economy Sydney : Sydney University Press , 2017 11551284 2017 multi chapter work criticism

'Over the course of the nineteenth century a remarkable array of types appeared – and disappeared – in Australian literature: the swagman, the larrikin, the colonial detective, the bushranger, the “currency lass”, the squatter, and more. Some had a powerful influence on the colonies’ developing sense of identity; others were more ephemeral. But all had a role to play in shaping and reflecting the social and economic circumstances of life in the colonies.

'In Colonial Australian Fiction: Character Types, Social Formations and the Colonial Economy, Ken Gelder and Rachael Weaver explore the genres in which these characters flourished: the squatter novel, the bushranger adventure, colonial detective stories, the swagman’s yarn, the Australian girl’s romance. Authors as diverse as Catherine Helen Spence, Rosa Praed, Henry Kingsley, Anthony Trollope, Henry Lawson, Miles Franklin, Barbara Baynton, Rolf Boldrewood, Mary Fortune and Marcus Clarke were fascinated by colonial character types, and brought them vibrantly to life.

'As this book shows, colonial Australian character types are fluid, contradictory and often unpredictable. When we look closely, they have the potential to challenge our assumptions about fiction, genre and national identity.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2019 longlisted ASAL Awards Walter McRae Russell Award
Last amended 17 Apr 2018 16:16:20
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