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y separately published work icon Drums of Mer single work   novel   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 1933... 1933 Drums of Mer
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Trummorna pa Mer : fran huvudjagarnas oar i Torres sund och Korallhavet
Language: Swedish

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  • Also braille, sound recording.

Works about this Work

Finding Fault : Aborigines, Anthropologists, Popular Writers and Walkabout. Mitchell Rolls , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Cultural History , vol. 28 no. 2/3 2010; (p. 179-200)
'The popular middlebrow magazine Walkabout was published between 1934 and 1974. Its principle aim was to promote travel to and within Australia and to educate Australians about their continent. It aspired to be an Australian geographic magazine, and to this end it focussed on inland and remote Australia, and natural history. For this reason, and because it was published throughout a period, particularly in the early decades, when only those Aborigines living afar from populated regions were recognised as Aborigines, many of Walkabout's articles were about Aborigines or, more commonly, made mention of them. There are very few critiques of Walkabout, but those that do exist are critical of its portrayal of Aborigines. Notwithstanding that there are many reasons to find fault, it is possible to read this material in a more salutary light, even against the apparent intention of at least one of the contributors, Ernestine Hill. This article considers the work of a number of popular writers and two of the anthropologists who contributed to Walkabout, and finds reason to be less critical and more cautious in our assessment of their narrative representation of Aborigines than is generally allowed. The period of analysis is from 1934 to 1950.' (Editor's abstract)
Cannibalising Indigenous Texts : Headhunting and Fantasy in Ion L. Idriess's Coral Sea Adventures Robert Dixon , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Body Trade : Captivity, Cannibalism and Colonialism in the Pacific 2001; (p. 112-125, notes 254-255)
Tales of Torres Strait : The Historical Novel and Localised Memories Maureen Fuary , 2000 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture 2000; (p. 444-447)
Captives and Inmates: Captivity Narratives, Torres Strait Islanders and the Aborigines Protection Acts Robert Dixon , 1998 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Studies , Winter vol. 13 no. 2 1998; (p. 41-54)

— Appears in: Prosthetic Gods : Travel, Representation and Colonial Governance 2001; (p. 99-123)
A Novel Approach to Tradition : Torres Strait Islanders and Ion Idriess Maureen Fuary , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Anthropology , vol. 8 no. 3 1997; (p. 247-258)

This paper considers the significance of the novel Drums of Mer (1941) in contemporary Torres Strait Islanders' lives. Its use as narrative by many Islanders today constitutes one means by which men especially have come to know themselves, white others, and their past. In particular, I explore the ways in which this story appeals to and is appealed to by Yam Island people. Contrary to literary deconstructions of Idriess's representations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, my paper argues that in seriously attending to Torres Strait readings of Drums of Mer we can see that for contemporary Islander readers, it is not themselves who are other but rather the white protagonists. I employ Said's (1994) notion of 'cultural overlap' and de Certeau's (1988) understandings of reading and writing as 'everyday practices' to frame my analysis of the differing impacts of the historical novel, Drums of Mer, and the Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits. It is through story telling that Yam Island selves are placed in the past and the present, and in Idriess's memorable story a similar effect is achieved. In his novel approach, the past becomes his-story, a romanticised refraction of the Reports. Unlike the Reports, this novel is a sensual rendering of a Torres Strait past, and at this level it operates as a mnemonic device for Yam Island people, triggering memories and the imagination through the senses. This Torres Strait Islander detour by way of a past via a story, can be understood as a means by which Yam Island people continue to actively produce powerful images of themselves, for both themselves and for others. (Author's Abstract)

Some Australian Books for Christmas Nettie Palmer , 1933 single work review
— Appears in: All About Books , 4 December vol. 5 no. 12 1933; (p. 203, 205, 207)

— Review of Chris Brennan Alfred George Stephens , 1933 single work criticism biography ; The Brooks of Morning : Nature and Reflective Essays Donald MacDonald , 1933 selected work prose ; Australian Barkers and Biters Robert Kaleski , 1914 selected work short story essay ; Drums of Mer Ion L. Idriess , 1933 single work novel ; The Gallant Company : An Australian Soldier's Story of 1915-18 Williams H. R. , 1933 single work autobiography ; The Man from Oodnadatta R. B. Plowman , 1933 selected work short story autobiography ; Nought So Very Wise : Verses Ethel Davies , 1932 selected work poetry ; Wardens of the Seas : Poems E. J. Brady , 1933 selected work poetry ; 'Mordecaius' Overture : A Poem Bertram Higgins , 1933 single work poetry ; Youth Builds A Monument 'J. Leslie' , 1933 single work novel ; Money Street John K. Ewers , 1933 single work novel ; Bring the Monkey : A Light Novel Miles Franklin , 1933 single work novel ; She Dresses for Dinner Georgia Rivers , 1933 single work novel ; Pageant G. B. Lancaster , 1933 single work novel ; Teens Triumphant Louise Mack , 1933 single work novel ; Desert Saga 'William Hatfield' , 1933 single work novel ; Lost Dale Collins , 1933 single work novel ; Here Comes the King Philip Lindsay , 1933 single work novel ; The Woman on the Beast : Viewed from Three Angles Helen Simpson , 1933 single work novel
Drums of Mer 1933 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 21 October no. 48 1933; (p. 20)

— Review of Drums of Mer Ion L. Idriess , 1933 single work novel
New Idriess Book 1933 single work review
— Appears in: The Central Queensland Herald , 23 November 1933; (p. 12-13)

— Review of Drums of Mer Ion L. Idriess , 1933 single work novel
'Drums of Mer.' : A Story of the Strait. 1933 single work review
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 14 December 1933; (p. 44)

— Review of Drums of Mer Ion L. Idriess , 1933 single work novel
Ion Idriess' New Book "Drums of Mer" 1933 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Women's Weekly , 14 October vol. 1 no. 19 1933; (p. 39)

— Review of Drums of Mer Ion L. Idriess , 1933 single work novel
Cannibalising Indigenous Texts : Headhunting and Fantasy in Ion L. Idriess's Coral Sea Adventures Robert Dixon , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Body Trade : Captivity, Cannibalism and Colonialism in the Pacific 2001; (p. 112-125, notes 254-255)
Best Sellers and A.B.A. Recommendations 1933 single work column
— Appears in: All About Books , 13 November vol. 5 no. 11 1933; (p. 184-185)
Finding Fault : Aborigines, Anthropologists, Popular Writers and Walkabout. Mitchell Rolls , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Cultural History , vol. 28 no. 2/3 2010; (p. 179-200)
'The popular middlebrow magazine Walkabout was published between 1934 and 1974. Its principle aim was to promote travel to and within Australia and to educate Australians about their continent. It aspired to be an Australian geographic magazine, and to this end it focussed on inland and remote Australia, and natural history. For this reason, and because it was published throughout a period, particularly in the early decades, when only those Aborigines living afar from populated regions were recognised as Aborigines, many of Walkabout's articles were about Aborigines or, more commonly, made mention of them. There are very few critiques of Walkabout, but those that do exist are critical of its portrayal of Aborigines. Notwithstanding that there are many reasons to find fault, it is possible to read this material in a more salutary light, even against the apparent intention of at least one of the contributors, Ernestine Hill. This article considers the work of a number of popular writers and two of the anthropologists who contributed to Walkabout, and finds reason to be less critical and more cautious in our assessment of their narrative representation of Aborigines than is generally allowed. The period of analysis is from 1934 to 1950.' (Editor's abstract)
Chronicler of the Great Inland Clement Semmler , 1990 single work biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 29-30 September 1990; (p. rev 4)
Unfamiliar Selves : Ion L. Idriess and Melanesia Robert Dixon , 1996 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Masks, Tapestries, Journeys : Essays in Honour of Dorothy Jones 1996; (p. 161-171) Crossing Lines : Formations of Australian Culture : Proceedings of Association for the Study of Australian Literature Conference, Adelaide, 1995 1996; (p. 78-83)
Last amended 5 Oct 2017 16:22:33
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