AustLit
Latest Issues
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Who is My Neighbour? : Tim Winton’s ‘Aquifer’ and the Ghosts of Cloudstreet
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , February vol. 32 no. 1 2017;'The psychology of guilt as debt is a recurrent theme in Tim Winton’s fiction. A number of scholars have recently examined the theme of haunting in Winton’s Cloudstreet (1991), arguing that the ghosts which appear in the story represent an engagement with Australia’s colonial past, in particular the mistreatment of its Indigenous peoples. The latest of these, Michael R. Griffiths, highlights the shortcomings of Winton’s treatment of this theme, contending that Winton’s text might be read as a kind of excuse, in the name of naïveté, for colonial abuses. Given that Nicholas Birns (among others) has noted a new maturity in Winton’s work from The Turning (2004) onward, a fresh examination of such themes in Winton’s work is warranted. This essay does so through a reading of the short story ‘Aquifer’. Examining the story’s treatment of the psychology of guilt and debt, the essay explores how Winton tries to resolve the moral and historical problems he raises in regard to Australian culture through the ethical figure of the neighbour, drawn in particular from the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. By showing the centrality of the neighbour to Winton’s work through references to In the Winter Dark (1988), Cloudstreet, Breath (2009), ‘Aquifer,’ and a newspaper editorial by Winton on the humanitarian treatment of refugees, this paper seeks to provide a new critical window through which to understand his evolving ethical ideas about Australia’s past and future.'
Source: Abstract.
-
Environmental Degradation, Indigenous Displacement, and Non-Indigenous Belonging : Suburbia in Tim Winton's 'Aquifer' and Liam Davison's 'Neary's Horse'
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Commonwealth , Spring vol. 32 no. 2 2010; (p. 47-60) -
y
White Vanishing : A Settler Australian Hegemonic Textual Strategy, 1789-2006
Z1408578
2007
single work
thesis
'This thesis conducts a discourse analysis of the 'white vanishing trope' - stories about white Australians who become lost or disappear - in white Australian texts from 1789 to 2006...[T]he white vanishing trope narrates a specific, and remarkably constant, relationship between indigenous bodies, white bodies, time, and space, in which white settlers are victims and survivors, whose occupation of Australia is constructed as inevitable and right.' - from author's abstract (p.ix)
-
y
White Vanishing : A Settler Australian Hegemonic Textual Strategy, 1789-2006
Z1408578
2007
single work
thesis
'This thesis conducts a discourse analysis of the 'white vanishing trope' - stories about white Australians who become lost or disappear - in white Australian texts from 1789 to 2006...[T]he white vanishing trope narrates a specific, and remarkably constant, relationship between indigenous bodies, white bodies, time, and space, in which white settlers are victims and survivors, whose occupation of Australia is constructed as inevitable and right.' - from author's abstract (p.ix)
-
Environmental Degradation, Indigenous Displacement, and Non-Indigenous Belonging : Suburbia in Tim Winton's 'Aquifer' and Liam Davison's 'Neary's Horse'
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Commonwealth , Spring vol. 32 no. 2 2010; (p. 47-60) -
Who is My Neighbour? : Tim Winton’s ‘Aquifer’ and the Ghosts of Cloudstreet
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , February vol. 32 no. 1 2017;'The psychology of guilt as debt is a recurrent theme in Tim Winton’s fiction. A number of scholars have recently examined the theme of haunting in Winton’s Cloudstreet (1991), arguing that the ghosts which appear in the story represent an engagement with Australia’s colonial past, in particular the mistreatment of its Indigenous peoples. The latest of these, Michael R. Griffiths, highlights the shortcomings of Winton’s treatment of this theme, contending that Winton’s text might be read as a kind of excuse, in the name of naïveté, for colonial abuses. Given that Nicholas Birns (among others) has noted a new maturity in Winton’s work from The Turning (2004) onward, a fresh examination of such themes in Winton’s work is warranted. This essay does so through a reading of the short story ‘Aquifer’. Examining the story’s treatment of the psychology of guilt and debt, the essay explores how Winton tries to resolve the moral and historical problems he raises in regard to Australian culture through the ethical figure of the neighbour, drawn in particular from the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. By showing the centrality of the neighbour to Winton’s work through references to In the Winter Dark (1988), Cloudstreet, Breath (2009), ‘Aquifer,’ and a newspaper editorial by Winton on the humanitarian treatment of refugees, this paper seeks to provide a new critical window through which to understand his evolving ethical ideas about Australia’s past and future.'
Source: Abstract.
