AustLit
Latest Issues
Notes
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Only literary material by Australian authors individually indexed. Other material in this issue includes:
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Living Notes : Thom Conroy
Contents
- Editorial : Writing and Change … And Teaching Writing, single work criticism
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Looking for Excellence : A Comparative Review of the Splintering of the Arts and the Sciences,
single work
criticism
'This is a story that brings together excellence, research, poets, and scientists to explore their relationships and possible meanings. We examine the requirement for ‘excellence in research’ in an attempt to understand how this is defined, measured and justified, and we wonder if it is possible, meaningful, or even desirable in its current form. We ask if excellence in the Arts and the Sciences is a product or a process, or both. A snapshot of the historical development of the art/science divide leads us to challenge the usefulness of this dichotomy and to conclude that research excellence is poorly served by existing measures. The story unfolds like a Deleuzean map where art and science have the potential to trace each other in a process that creatively evaluates and modifies that thing we call knowledge. ' (Publication abstract)
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From the ‘Mad’ Poet to the ‘Embodied’ Poet : Reconceptualising Creativity through Cognitive Science Paradigms,
single work
criticism
'Written by the author of three collections of poetry, this paper contests the enduring stereotype of the ‘mad’ poet, present in Romantic, psychoanalytic and psychological theories of creativity. Mobilising theories of embodied cognition, it offers a demystified and de-pathologised vision of poiesis and poetry. The paper focuses on three traits typically associated with the ‘mad’ poet in popular representations and theoretical understandings of that figure: extreme emotionality; divergent thinking; and a tortured unconscious. Using findings in the cognitive sciences, the essay demonstrates how emotional experience, divergent thinking, and the unconscious are integral parts of brain functioning, rather than traits exclusive to psychopathology. Poiesis is not informed, in any essential way, by madness but rather by the normal conditions of embodied cognition.' (Publication abstract)
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Poetry and Risk : On the Similarities between Recital and Composition,
single work
criticism
'‘Every time,’ Brazilian director, teacher, writer and erstwhile politician, Augusto Boal claims, ‘an actor plays a character, he or she plays it for the first and last time. Like we play every minute of our own lives’ (Boal 2002: 38). This article concerns the experiment of making by heart recitals of canonical twentieth century poems a compulsory assessment item in a creative writing unit. It details some surprising results of that experiment. One is that students demonstrated more capacity to develop a confident aesthetic about the rights and wrongs of their peers’ recitals than when engaging in similar group discussions about those same students’ verse compositions. The paper suggests that this disparity had to do with the students’ broad literacy in relation to acting, compared to their relative illiteracy in relation to what can be done in verse. It makes the further claim, with reference to Boal’s Games for Actors and Non-Actors (Boal 2002), Stephen Berkoff’s I am Hamlet (Berkoff 1989) and other texts, that this situation might not be as hopeless as it sounds. Could it be that by heart recitals brought these students closer to that form of creativity they actually already well know from film, stage and life, but need to get on the page: the one to do with inhabiting the tensions of the moment, and acting them out? For they also seemed to be writing much better poems.' (Publication abstract)
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The Pot, the Vase and the Kettle : ‘Show Not Tell’ and the Role of Visual Art,
single work
criticism
'In this paper I investigate relationships between word-images in fiction and visual images in photography, film and multi-media in order to contribute to knowledge in relation to using ‘show not tell’ in creative writing. The immediate impetus for the inquiry is pedagogy in terms of my desire to understand the complex role of visual art in teaching ‘show not tell’ in creative writing workshops. As such, the inquiry concludes with an overview of a university-level creative writing workshop using visual art. While it is perhaps self-evident that visual art and fiction directly and indirectly influence each other, and that all representations are shaped by similar cultural shifts and expectations, less work has been done to show the relationships between different visual art forms and assumptions made about the portrayal of the real in fiction. The article is exploratory in nature and shows that, influenced by different art forms, the desire to ‘show not tell’ has been connected by writers and critics to the need in various periods to prove social injustice, to depict abstract, internal states, and to provide a sense of mortality, materiality and embodiment in response to modern life.' (Publication abstract)
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The Reader-Assembled Narrative : Representing the Random in Print Fiction,
single work
criticism
'The growing interest in co-created reading experiences in both digital and print formats raises interesting questions for creative writers who work in the space of interactive fiction. This essay argues that writers have not abandoned experiments with co-creation in print narratives in favour of the attractions of the digital environment, as might be assumed by the discourse on digital development. Rather, interactive print narratives, in particular ‘reader-assembled narratives’ demonstrate a rich history of experimentation and continue to engage writers who wish to craft individual reading experiences for readers and to experiment with their own creative process as writers. The reader-assembled narrative has been used for many different reasons and for some writers, such as BS Johnson it is a method of problem solving, for others, like Robert Coover, it is a way to engage the reader in a more playful sense. Authors such as Marc Saporta, BS Johnson, and Robert Coover have engaged with this type of narrative play. This examination considers the narrative experimentation of these authors as a way of offering insights into creative practice for contemporary creative writers.' (Publication summary)
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Semiotics and Poetry – Why the Relational Axes Might yet Increase Our Understanding of Poetic Practice,
single work
criticism
'The paper will consider syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations in the poetry of Michele Leggott. The syntagm is a sequential lexical unit, including anything from a compound noun to a line or stanza; it is seen as occupying a horizontal axis, and concerned with the positioning of words. The paradigmatic is a vertical axis and concerns possible substitution of words; it has much to do with the choices a particular poet makes which suggest the ‘other’, with aspects of composition that are less logical and more intuitive. The paper also considers the implications of the binary oppositions of this discourse and what the relational axes might say about the use of space in a poem. I argue that the use of space in the layout of a poem is paradigmatic rather than syntagmatic and that the use of space sometimes constitutes an act of substitution for language. The paper moves towards a wider understanding of semiotics with reference to deconstruction and assemblage theory.' (Publication summary)
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Crossing Shadows : Bridging the Voices of Hard-boiled Detective and Noir Crime Fiction,
single work
criticism
'This paper discusses the notion of Voice. It attempts to articulate the nature of voice in hard-boiled detective fiction and noir crime fiction. In doing so, it examines discusses how these narrative styles, particularly found within private eye novels, explores aspects of the subjectivity as the narrator-investigator; and, thus crossing and bridging a cynical, hard-boiled style and an alienated, reflective voice within a noir world.' (Publication abstract)
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Teaching behind Bars : Challenges and Solutions for Creative Writing Classes in Prison,
single work
criticism
'The prison creative writing class offers many benefits for the students and the instructor. Research has found that inmates in writing programs report improved self-image and reduced emotional stress, an increase in literacy, and more post-release opportunities. For the instructor, the reward can reside in the experience of helping prisoners develop practical compositional and coping skills that can lead to publication, performance, and outside study. However, the delivery of writing programs in a volatile, high security environment is a challenging endeavour that requires specific guidance.
'This paper offers insights gained from implementing and maintaining a creative writing postgraduate program inside an Australian maximum security women’s prison over a period of six years. After opening the discussion with a brief overview of prisoners’ rights to education, it evaluates the nature of prison education and arts education in Australia. This is followed by an identification of the challenges of teaching inside a prison regime and an exploration of how these were resolved.' (Publication summary)
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Rewriting the Bereaved Self : The Role of Narrative in Rebuilding the Self and Constructing Meaning Following the Loss of One’s Spouse,
single work
criticism
'Losing one’s spouse is one of the most difficult experiences we can face in life. It typically contests our sense of self, requiring the bereaved to rebuild the self. Narrative is well suited to facilitate identity reconstruction following grief. This paper posits that further research is needed into the specific narrative processes that facilitate recovery from grief in autobiographical writing. It intends to contribute to this gap in knowledge by linking bereavement theory with narrative theory in a textual analysis of the grief memoir To have and to hold (1997) by Walter Mikac, co-written by Lindsay Simpson.
'Through the close reading of To have and to hold and my own autobiographical writing this paper analyses the specific ways in which identity reconstruction takes place in the text, in particular narrative structure and metaphor. In accord with contemporary grief theory as espoused by Robert Neimeyer it argues for the importance of meaning making in the reconstruction of the self following bereavement, especially in the case of premature and sudden loss. In its analysis of Mikac’s meaning making in the text, it employs Neimeyer’s theory of meaning construction which posits that meaning can be found either in the life of the survivor or in the loss itself. Lastly, I draw observations about my personal experience as a postgraduate student writing a grief memoir and discuss how the symbiosis of being both author and academic researching bereavement has contributed to my own identity reconstruction. ' (Publication abstract)
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‘Darling Adopted Daughter’ : A Practice-Led Exploration of Adoption Wounds through the Writing of a Memoir,
single work
criticism
'This paper discusses my quest for a narrative means to give voice to the story of my adoption. Using practice-led research to explore my adoption experience, I wrote a memoir entitled ‘Darling Adopted Daughter’ for the degree of Doctor of Creative Arts at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC). The memoir investigates the adoption wounds I sustained when separated at birth from my biological mother and was adopted three weeks later into a family with three existing biological children. ' (Publication summary)
- Last Ritesi"Here I am: all yours and naked.", single work poetry
- Kindness, single work prose
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Magazines into the Limelight,
single work
review
— Review of Tilting at Windmills : The Literary Magazine in Australia, 1968-2012 2015 single work criticism ; -
‘If the World Was Just a Sock’,
single work
review
— Review of Living like a Kelly : A Novel 2015 single work novel ; -
Dear (not) You : Reading Kate Llewellyn’s Letters,
single work
review
— Review of First Things First : Selected Letters of Kate Llewellyn 1977–2004 2015 selected work correspondence ; -
‘Poppy-Hunters, Poppy-Picking’,
single work
review
— Review of This Intimate War : Gallipoli/Çanakkale 1915 Mehmet Ali Celikel (translator), 2015 selected work poetry ; -
‘Close to the Grief Room’,
single work
review
— Review of Now You Shall Know 2015 selected work poetry ; -
‘You Can Not Hide What Is in Your Bones’,
single work
review
— Review of Southerly vol. 73 no. 3 2013 periodical issue ; -
Speaking of Dreams,
single work
review
— Review of Southerly vol. 74 no. 2 2014 periodical issue ;
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Editorial : Writing and Change … And Teaching Writing
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 19 no. 2 2015;
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Editorial : Writing and Change … And Teaching Writing
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 19 no. 2 2015;
