AustLit
Latest Issues
Contents
-
In Memoriam, Ross Stanley Smith,
single work
obituary
'Students, friends and colleagues were deeply grieved to learn, shortly before Christmas last year, of the death in Brisbane of Ross Smith, who lectured for many years in James Cook University's former Department of English.' (Publication abstract)
- Basketi"It is for bringing enough flowers", single work poetry (p. 12)
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The Mythic Transformation of Adair in David Malouf's 'The Conversations at Curlow Creek',
single work
criticism
'In The Conversations at Curlow Creek (1996) Malouf plots the transformation of Michael Adair, a product of European Enlightenment values, into the legendary character O'Dare, a figure of early Nineteenth-Century Australian mythology. Malouf's ambiguous Epilogue, which describes the completion of this metamorphosis, is offered as the only credible conclusion to a narrative tracing the effect of the alien Australian landscape on an emerging colonial consciousness. Malouf initially presents the soldier Adair, and Carney, the prisoner he has been sent to execute, as antithetical, and then gradually pares down their dissimilarities, progressively removing Adair's perception of himself as superior in education and rank to the rest of those he meets. Carney is the catalyst for these changes in Adair, and although, like Adair, he is a native Irishman, he becomes a symbol of Australia, and all that Adair's education in Enlightenment values fears: the rugged, the dangerous, the uneducated, a projection of the noble savage. In the early pages, Malouf establishes an ' Apollonian/Dionysian division between these two characters, a division which is mirrored in the minor characters of Longhurst and Garrety, who both complicate and complement the opposition. The imminent death of Carney prompts self-reflection in most of those at Curlow Creek. but in none so much as Adair, who grows not only to realise his similarities to the condemned man, but also what it is he is looking for in Australia. In the Epilogue, Malouf shows both Adair's Internal transformation, and the public transformation of "his" story into a potent colonial myth of escape from death into freedom.' (Publication abstract)
- Before Easteri"Her body the colour of biscuits", single work poetry (p. 22)
- Watching Watching: Christmas; Port Kembla, 1999i"someone has left the gate ajar-- the garden", single work poetry (p. 22)
- The Newness of Himi"It is unspeakable, this inescapable fear", single work poetry (p. 23)
- Devouring Life (for Christopher)i"The dad growls, a starved monster, whiskers salting unseasoned skin.", single work poetry (p. 25)
- Regreti"The Pill's less cruel.", single work poetry (p. 26)
- Solitaire, single work short story (p. 27-30)
- Armisticei"Here it is", single work poetry (p. 35-36)
- Forenzic Freezeri"Two blue feet", single work poetry (p. 47)
- Time Travellersi"the last wild child let go", single work poetry (p. 48)
- They sayi"They say when you knocked on his door", single work poetry (p. 49-50)
- On the Wings of a Muttonbird, single work short story (p. 51-52)
- Reaperi"Ancestors etch the town.", single work poetry (p. 53)
- Country Town, 3.45 Friday Afternooni"The shuffle of cars & utes", single work poetry (p. 54-55)
- Gibralter Park, Bowrali"Once a boy's home,", single work poetry (p. 56)
- Outposti"The mid-afternoon", single work poetry (p. 57-58)
- Great Like Dennis Lillee, single work short story (p. 59-61)
- Bull Ant Quartzi"Hot rod of an insect", single work poetry (p. 65)