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Contents
* Contents derived from the
Canberra,
Australian Capital Territory,:University College, Australian Defence Force Academy
, 1995 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- Writing Asia, extract criticism (p. 1-21)
- Auto/biography, single work criticism biography (p. 22-38)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
African Chicken and Transonant Subject in Brian Castro's Shanghai Dancing
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Border Crossings : Narrative and Demarcation in Postcolonial Literatures and Media 2012; (p. 253-262) 'In Brian Castro's fictional autobiography Shanghai Dancing the narrator, Antonio Castro, takes a ferry to Hong Kong. During the passage he remembers his birth of a similar ferry many years previously when, as he describes it, his mother hesitated 'between one step and the next' (212) as her labour came on. After finally arriving in the world, the newborn child lies on the threshold of life 'unbreathing for some time' - an action that, the narrator tells us, is repeated throughout his life as 'stretching breath to stopper utterance' (212). This curious depiction of hesitant arrival and of suspension in-between states underwrites the entire narrative of the book, in which Antontio [sic] Castro returns from his adopted home in Melbourne to that of his birthplace in Shanghai. He goes there carrying his father's photos in an attempt to 'reconstruct a story' by finding 'the missing pieces' (12). Yet the narrative of his family history discovers not a unified and coherent story of origin, family, and nation, but rather a radically complicated and chequered diorama of migration and dispersal that compromises any singular notion of identity or culture.' (Author's introduction) -
‘This Story Does Not Begin on a Boat’ : What Is Australian about Asian Australian Writing?
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 25 no. 4 2011; (p. 503–513) 'With reference to recent debates about the politics of representation, this paper argues that a profound ambivalence about identity, and particularly about Asian Australian identity, is a common characteristic of much recent Asian Australian literary writing. It also asks whether this is the characteristic that marks this writing as specifically Australian. Tracing cultural contexts from the 'pathologies' of Australian multicultural debates to other transnational literary traditions, the paper uses examples from the writing of Brian Castro, Alice Pung, Ouyang Yu, Nam Le, Shaun Tan, and Tom Cho to speculate on the emergence of a new and distinct phase of transnational writing in Australia.' (Author's abstract)
-
‘This Story Does Not Begin on a Boat’ : What Is Australian about Asian Australian Writing?
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 25 no. 4 2011; (p. 503–513) 'With reference to recent debates about the politics of representation, this paper argues that a profound ambivalence about identity, and particularly about Asian Australian identity, is a common characteristic of much recent Asian Australian literary writing. It also asks whether this is the characteristic that marks this writing as specifically Australian. Tracing cultural contexts from the 'pathologies' of Australian multicultural debates to other transnational literary traditions, the paper uses examples from the writing of Brian Castro, Alice Pung, Ouyang Yu, Nam Le, Shaun Tan, and Tom Cho to speculate on the emergence of a new and distinct phase of transnational writing in Australia.' (Author's abstract)
-
African Chicken and Transonant Subject in Brian Castro's Shanghai Dancing
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Border Crossings : Narrative and Demarcation in Postcolonial Literatures and Media 2012; (p. 253-262) 'In Brian Castro's fictional autobiography Shanghai Dancing the narrator, Antonio Castro, takes a ferry to Hong Kong. During the passage he remembers his birth of a similar ferry many years previously when, as he describes it, his mother hesitated 'between one step and the next' (212) as her labour came on. After finally arriving in the world, the newborn child lies on the threshold of life 'unbreathing for some time' - an action that, the narrator tells us, is repeated throughout his life as 'stretching breath to stopper utterance' (212). This curious depiction of hesitant arrival and of suspension in-between states underwrites the entire narrative of the book, in which Antontio [sic] Castro returns from his adopted home in Melbourne to that of his birthplace in Shanghai. He goes there carrying his father's photos in an attempt to 'reconstruct a story' by finding 'the missing pieces' (12). Yet the narrative of his family history discovers not a unified and coherent story of origin, family, and nation, but rather a radically complicated and chequered diorama of migration and dispersal that compromises any singular notion of identity or culture.' (Author's introduction)
Last amended 28 Feb 2002 11:19:58
