'Gender and madness appear in the question that opens this book: ‘What is a madwoman?’ (ix). The answer is provided through the lens of feminist literary theory, psychoanalysis and postcolonial theory; Laura Deane is a lecturer at Flinders University with expertise in literary theory and world literature. As the title of the book also indicates, ‘Australian literature’ is the prime focus of her enquiry, with ‘colonial paranoia’ playing an important part in the analysis.' (Introduction)