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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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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)
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Disciplining the Popular: `Professional' Criticism and Editorial Policy in Oxford University Press's `Australian Writers and Their Work' Series 1966-1974
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Publishing Studies , Autumn no. 6 1998; (p. 14-20) -
The Pursuit of Literary Studies
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: UQP : The Writer's Press 1948-1998 1998; (p. 171-181) -
Australian Writers
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: Hemisphere , April vol. 22 no. 4 1978; (p. 22)
— Review of Marcus Clarke 1977 single work criticism ; Drama 1977 single work criticism ; Charles Harpur 1965 single work criticism ; Australian Writers and Their Work 1966 series - publisher criticism -
Untitled
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 8 no. 4 1978; (p. 521-524)
— Review of Marcus Clarke 1977 single work criticism ; Price Warung (William Astley) 1976 single work criticism biography
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Australian Writers
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: Hemisphere , April vol. 22 no. 4 1978; (p. 22)
— Review of Marcus Clarke 1977 single work criticism ; Drama 1977 single work criticism ; Charles Harpur 1965 single work criticism ; Australian Writers and Their Work 1966 series - publisher criticism -
Untitled
1977
single work
review
— Appears in: Nation Review , 1-7 December 1977; (p. 18)
— Review of Marcus Clarke 1977 single work criticism -
Untitled
1978
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 8 no. 4 1978; (p. 521-524)
— Review of Marcus Clarke 1977 single work criticism ; Price Warung (William Astley) 1976 single work criticism biography -
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)
-
Disciplining the Popular: `Professional' Criticism and Editorial Policy in Oxford University Press's `Australian Writers and Their Work' Series 1966-1974
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Publishing Studies , Autumn no. 6 1998; (p. 14-20) -
The Pursuit of Literary Studies
1998
single work
criticism
— Appears in: UQP : The Writer's Press 1948-1998 1998; (p. 171-181)
Last amended 15 Feb 2011 12:30:17
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