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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
This selection consists of essays and reviews from The Australian Year, Doubletake, three earlier prose selections - The Peasant Mandarin, Persistence in Folly and Blocks and Tackles - and some previously uncollected work.
Notes
-
Dedication: To the greater glory of God
-
Reviews of books not of Australian literary interest have not been individually listed.
Contents
* Contents derived from the
Potts Point,
Kings Cross area,
Inner Sydney,
Sydney,
New South Wales,:Duffy and Snellgrove
, 1997 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- From Bulby Brush to Figure City, single work biography (p. 3-6)
- The Bonnie Disproportion, single work autobiography prose (p. 7-29)
- On Being Subject Matter, single work autobiography (p. 30-44)
- A Generation of Changes, single work prose autobiography (p. 45-52)
- Notes on the Writing of a Novel Sequence, single work criticism (p. 53-56)
- In a Working Forest, single work prose autobiography (p. 57-73)
- The Best of Our Man in Bunyah : A Column in The Independent Monthly, 1993-1996, selected work column (p. 74-103)
- A Folk University, single work column (p. 107-109)
- The Australian Republic, single work prose (p. 110-120)
- Peter Porter : On First Looking into Chapman's Hesiod On Sitting Back and Thinking About Porter's Boeotia, single work essay (p. 121-129)
- Some Religious Stuff I Know About Australia, single work prose (p. 130-147)
- Eric Rolls and the Golden Disobedience, single work criticism (p. 148-166)
- The Import of Seasons Preface, single work prose (p. 167-170)
- Flaunt, Scunge and Death-Freckles, single work prose (p. 171-177)
- Snow Gums, single work prose (p. 178-182)
- The Suspect Captivity of the Fisher King, single work criticism (p. 183-189)
- The Noblesse Trap : The Ills and Possibilities of Arts Patronage, single work criticism (p. 190-210)
- Making the Pledge, single work prose (p. 211-213)
- Wheatish and Auspicious, single work biography travel (p. 223-227)
-
Antarctica : An Adventure of a Different Nature,
single work
film/TV
(p. 228-235)Antarctica explores life in the Antarctic region for indigenous animals and for the scientists who work there.Note:
Film script 'based on Assembly 9 of the film and discussions with the director'. (p.228)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording (Swedish)
Related Works
-
y
Lettere dalla Beozia : Scritti sull'Australia e la Poesia
( trans. Massimiliano Morini
)expression
Varese
:
Giano Editore
,
2005
Z1305848
2005
selected work
essay
criticism
prose
Works about this Work
-
In Search of the Celtic Sunrise
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journeying and Journalling : Creative and Critical Meditations on Travel Writing 2010; (p. 37-46) 'The title of this paper caused me a lot of trouble. I thought the one I settled on was brilliant, but unfortunately, when I came to write the paper to go with it, I found difficulty in making a match. For a while it seemed that my search was leading only to a Celtic sunset. However,it did give me a reason to traipse around Wales and Ireland and Scotland and the Canadian Maritimes, even if in Ireland and Scotland the sun I was seeking neither rose nor set, but remained resolutely hidden beneath mists and clouds. I gathered a fair amount of history on my journeying, and the full version of this paper uses this to provide a context for the cultural differences I located in the poetry. There is, however, no time to go into this analysis of the contrasting histories of settlement, and of the distinct economic, political and religious circumstances in the countries of origin. Instead I will ask that you take those matters as given while I concentrate mainly on poets whose work demonstrates the cultural differences that arose from these circumstances.' (Author's introduction, 37)
-
The Wide Brown Land : Literary Readings of Space and the Australian Continent
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 45-53) 'In his 1987 poem "Louvres" Les Murray speaks of journeys to 'the three quarters of our continent/set aside for mystic poetry" (2002, 239), a very different reading of Australia's inner space to A.D. Hope's 1939 vision of it as '[t]he Arabian desert of the human mind" (1966, 13) In this paper I review the opposed, contradictory ways in which the inner space of Australia has been perceived by Australian writers, and note changes in those literary perceptions, especially in the last fifty years. In that time what was routinely categerised, by Patrick White among others, as the "Dead heart" (1974, 94) - the disappointing desert encountered by nineteenth=century European explorers looking for another America -has been re-mythologised as the "Red Centre," the symbolic, living heart of the continent. What Barcroft Boake's 1897 poem hauntingly portrayed as out where the dead men lie" (140,-2) is now more commonly imagined as a site of spiritual exploration and psychic renewal, a place where Aboriginal identification with the land is respected and even shared. This change was powerfully symbolised in 1985 by the return to the traditional Anangu owners of the title deeds to the renamed Uluru, the great stone sited at the centre of the continent; but while this re-mythologising has been increasingly influential in literary readings, older, more negative constructions of that space as hostile and sterile have persisted, so that contradictory attitudes towards the inner space of Australia continue to be expressed. In reviewing a selection of those readings, I am conscious that they both distort and influence broader cultural perceptions. I am also aware that literary reconstructions of the past reflect both the attitudes of the time depicted and the current attitudes of the writer, and that separating the two is seldom simple. Finally, I am conscious of the connections between literary readings and those in art and film of the kind documented by Roslynn Hanes in her 1998 study Seeking the Centre: the Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film, and those in television and advertising. I have however, with the exception of the Postscript, limited my paper to literary readings, with an emphasis on works published since Haynes's study.' (Author's abstract p. 45)
-
Yawp! Sounding Local, Sounding Ugly
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Explorations in Creative Writing 2003; (p. 146-153) -
Les Murray's "Narrowspeak"
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 20 no. 2 2001; (p. 76-86) Examines Murray's prose which he has spoken of as "Narrowspeak", in comparison to the "Wholespeak" of poetry. -
Grand Flow of Murrayspeak
1998
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 31 January-1 February 1998; (p. 27)
— Review of A Working Forest : Selected Prose 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary
-
Australian Poetry's Uluru and Iturkawara
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , Summer vol. 57 no. 4 1997-1998; (p. 191-198)
— Review of Subhuman Redneck Poems 1996 selected work poetry ; A Working Forest : Selected Prose 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary ; Killing the Black Dog : Essay and Poems 1997 selected work poetry prose ; Collected Poems 1997 selected work poetry ; Counterbalancing Light : Essays on the Poetry of Les Murray 1997 anthology criticism -
Red Herrings Inc.
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian's Review of Books , November vol. 2 no. 10 1997; (p. 22-23,31)
— Review of The Oxford Book of Australian Essays 1997 anthology prose short story biography criticism ; A Working Forest : Selected Prose 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary -
A Calvinist Catholic
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 23 August 1997; (p. wkd 8)
— Review of A Working Forest : Selected Prose 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary -
Books in Brief
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian's Review of Books , July vol. 2 no. 6 1997; (p. 28)
— Review of A Working Forest : Selected Prose 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary -
From a Little Scorn, a Mighty Oak Has Grown
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16 August 1997; (p. 10s)
— Review of A Working Forest : Selected Prose 1997 selected work prose autobiography review column criticism obituary -
Yawp! Sounding Local, Sounding Ugly
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Explorations in Creative Writing 2003; (p. 146-153) -
The Wide Brown Land : Literary Readings of Space and the Australian Continent
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australia : Making Space Meaningful 2007; (p. 45-53) 'In his 1987 poem "Louvres" Les Murray speaks of journeys to 'the three quarters of our continent/set aside for mystic poetry" (2002, 239), a very different reading of Australia's inner space to A.D. Hope's 1939 vision of it as '[t]he Arabian desert of the human mind" (1966, 13) In this paper I review the opposed, contradictory ways in which the inner space of Australia has been perceived by Australian writers, and note changes in those literary perceptions, especially in the last fifty years. In that time what was routinely categerised, by Patrick White among others, as the "Dead heart" (1974, 94) - the disappointing desert encountered by nineteenth=century European explorers looking for another America -has been re-mythologised as the "Red Centre," the symbolic, living heart of the continent. What Barcroft Boake's 1897 poem hauntingly portrayed as out where the dead men lie" (140,-2) is now more commonly imagined as a site of spiritual exploration and psychic renewal, a place where Aboriginal identification with the land is respected and even shared. This change was powerfully symbolised in 1985 by the return to the traditional Anangu owners of the title deeds to the renamed Uluru, the great stone sited at the centre of the continent; but while this re-mythologising has been increasingly influential in literary readings, older, more negative constructions of that space as hostile and sterile have persisted, so that contradictory attitudes towards the inner space of Australia continue to be expressed. In reviewing a selection of those readings, I am conscious that they both distort and influence broader cultural perceptions. I am also aware that literary reconstructions of the past reflect both the attitudes of the time depicted and the current attitudes of the writer, and that separating the two is seldom simple. Finally, I am conscious of the connections between literary readings and those in art and film of the kind documented by Roslynn Hanes in her 1998 study Seeking the Centre: the Australian Desert in Literature, Art and Film, and those in television and advertising. I have however, with the exception of the Postscript, limited my paper to literary readings, with an emphasis on works published since Haynes's study.' (Author's abstract p. 45)
-
In Search of the Celtic Sunrise
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journeying and Journalling : Creative and Critical Meditations on Travel Writing 2010; (p. 37-46) 'The title of this paper caused me a lot of trouble. I thought the one I settled on was brilliant, but unfortunately, when I came to write the paper to go with it, I found difficulty in making a match. For a while it seemed that my search was leading only to a Celtic sunset. However,it did give me a reason to traipse around Wales and Ireland and Scotland and the Canadian Maritimes, even if in Ireland and Scotland the sun I was seeking neither rose nor set, but remained resolutely hidden beneath mists and clouds. I gathered a fair amount of history on my journeying, and the full version of this paper uses this to provide a context for the cultural differences I located in the poetry. There is, however, no time to go into this analysis of the contrasting histories of settlement, and of the distinct economic, political and religious circumstances in the countries of origin. Instead I will ask that you take those matters as given while I concentrate mainly on poets whose work demonstrates the cultural differences that arose from these circumstances.' (Author's introduction, 37)
-
Les Murray's "Narrowspeak"
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 20 no. 2 2001; (p. 76-86) Examines Murray's prose which he has spoken of as "Narrowspeak", in comparison to the "Wholespeak" of poetry.
Last amended 1 May 2019 13:48:01
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