Cirrus@Austlit

'Literary studies are being transformed by the emerging disciplinary field of World Literature. Yet the world of literature is by no means self-evident. Issues of language and culture, national and global identity, originality and translation raise as many questions as they answer. What is the world in the new literary studies? And how does literary theory relate to this world? In Text, Translation, Transnationalism literary scholars from a broad array of languages and cultures explore the relationships between the nation and the world, world literature and transnational methodology, the individual literary voice and its global reception. As an English-speaking country which has come to fill a global role as a pivotal point between Europe, Asia and the Americas, Australia is well placed to provide original insights into the state of world literature. In his afterword, leading US critic Djelal Kadir reflects on the relevance of the concept of the “transnational” to the “self-troubling critical awareness” of Australian literary discourse as well as to wider global concerns. In this volume we aim to rethink world literature from local perspectives while reconsidering Australian literature from a world perspective.' (source: Publisher's website)

'Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (1796–1880) arrived in Sydney in 1838 and became almost immediately notorious for her poem “The Aboriginal Mother,” written in response to the infamous Myall Creek massacre. She published more poetry in colonial newspapers during her lifetime, but for the century following her death her work was largely neglected. In recent years, however, critical interest in Dunlop has increased, in Australia and internationally and in a range of fields, including literary studies; settler, postcolonial and imperial studies; and Indigenous studies.

'This stimulating collection of essays by leading scholars considers Dunlop's work from a range of perspectives and includes a new selection of her poetry.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.