Alternative title: Special Issue : Australia
Issue Details: First known date: 2019... vol. 28 no. 3 2019 of Anglica : An International Journal of English Studies est. 1988 Anglica : An International Journal of English Studies
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The need to redefine Australia has been particularly urgent in the recent two decades when the image of this antipodean society as almost a model multicultural one, craving for freedom and tolerance, was demolished by growing intolerance and nationalisms. In today’s world, torn by conflicts of interests, racial hatred and social divisions, the nineteenth-century concept of a nation and national ideology, which only apparently faded away in the era of the late twentieth-century globalisation, is now being given a new prominence not just by minor politicians who want to win the favour of their electorates (Pauline Hanson and others), but by surprisingly large sections of democratic, egalitarian societies as Australia and New Zealand undoubtedly are.' (Ryszard W. Wolny, Preface)

Contents

* Contents derived from the 2019 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Uncertain Seasons in the El Niño Continent : Local and Global Views, Libby Robin , single work criticism

'As global climate change shifts seasonal patterns, local and uncertain seasons of Australia have global relevance. Australia’s literature tracks extreme local weather events, exploring ‘slow catastrophes’ and ‘endurance.’ Humanists can change public policy in times when stress is a state of life, by reflecting on the psyches of individuals, rather than the patterns of the state. ‘Probable’ futures, generated by mathematical models that predict nature and economics, have little to say about living with extreme weather. Hope is not easily modelled. The frameworks that enable hopeful futures are qualitatively different. They can explore the unimaginable by offering an ‘interior apprehension.’' (Publication abstract)

(p. 7-19)
The “Cultural Landscape” of Australia in Bush Ballads : Slim Dusty’s Aussie Sing Song, Krzysztof Kosecki , single work criticism
'The concept of the “cultural landscape” designates tangible and intangible elements of human activity, such as the natural environment, material culture, values, behaviours, and language (Taylor 2008, 6; Taylor and Lennon 2011, 538–540; Wierzbicka 1997, 201). These themes are all present in Australian bush ballads – a literary and folk genre that reflects the country’s unique heritage and way of life in simple artistic forms. Slim Dusty’s Aussie Sing Song (1962) – a representative selection of ballads – depicts Australia’s fauna and flora, the Aborigines, the beginnings of European settlement, the economy, the Great Outback, and the social role of drinking beer. The popular texts contain condensed and vivid images of the country’s culture.' (Publication abstract)
(p. 21-32)
“He Certainly Was Rough to Look at” : Social Distinctions in Anthony Trollope’s Antipodean Fiction, Agnieszka Setecka , single work criticism
'The following article concentrates on the representation of social class in Anthony Trollope’s Antipodean stories, Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874) and “Catherine Carmichael” (1878). Although Trollope was aware of the problematic nature of class boundaries in the Antipodes, he nevertheless employed the English model of class distinctions as a point of reference. In the two stories he concentrated on wealthy squatters’ attempts to reconstruct the way of life of the English gentry and on the role of women, who either exposed the false pretences to gentility, as in “Catherine Carmichael,” or contributed to consolidation of the landowning classes as in Harry Heathcote of Gangoil.' (Publication abstract)
(p. 33-42)
“The White Experiment” : Racism and the Broome Pearl-Shelling Industry, Stefanie Affeldt , single work criticism
'With the Federation of Australia, aspiration for racial homogeneity was firmly established as being fundamental to national identity. Therefore, increasing criticism was directed against Asian employment in the pearl-shelling industry of Broome. It was not least against the backdrop of population politics, that several efforts were implemented to disestablish the purportedly ‘multiracial enclave’ in ‘White Australia.’ These culminated in “the white experiment,” i.e. the introduction of a dozen British men to evince European fitness as pearl divers and initiate the replacement of Asian pearling crews. Embedded in these endeavours were reflections of broader discourses on ‘white supremacy’ and racist discrimination.' (Introduction)
(p. 43-58)
Scaling Colonial Violence : One Day Celebrations in Fremantle, WA, Zuzanna Kruk-Buchowska , single work criticism
'The aim of this paper is to analyse the Fremantle City Council’s decision to celebrate One Day on January 28th 2017 instead of the usual Australia Day on January 26th, as well as the ensuing media debate between its supporters and opponents, especially Noongar leaders and WA Government. The discourse is examined in the context of the disruption of colonial violence. The City of Fremantle, as a place, itself serves as a point of reference for the analysis. Although today Fremantle is often perceived as a “progressive island” in a largely conservative Western Australia, the Fremantle prison and nearby Rottnest Island are stark reminders of the maltreatment of the Whadjuk people after the formation of the Swan River Colony in 1829.' (Publication abstract)
(p. 59-70)
The Return of the Silenced : Aboriginal Art as a Flagship of New Australian Identity, Elżbieta Wilczyńska , single work criticism

'The paper examines the presence of Aboriginal art, its contact with colonial and federation Australian art to prove that silencing of this art from the official identity narrative and art histories also served elimination of Aboriginal people from national and identity discourse. It posits then that the recently observed acceptance and popularity as well as incorporation of Aboriginal art into the national Australian art and art histories of Australian art may be interpreted as a sign of indigenizing state nationalism and multicultural national identity of Australia in compliance with the definition of identity according to Anthony B. Smith.' (Publication abstract)

(p. 71-84)
The ANZAC Tribulations at Gallipoli in Recent Australian Children’s Literature, Hervé Cantero , single work criticism

'Generations of Australian children have been presented with iconic figures and values associated with the events of 1915 at Gallipoli and involved in the ritual practices of remembrance exemplified by Anzac Day ceremonies throughout a corpus of children’s literature which ranges from picture books for pre-schoolers to young adult fiction. This paper aims to broadly identify the narrative strategies at work in a selection of recent stories of brave animals helping the Aussie boys under fire or paeans to the duty of personal and communal remembrance and to examine them in a larger context of national self-representation.'  (Publication abstract)

(p. 85-96)
Trauma, Gothic Apocalypse and Critical Mourning : The First World War and Its Aftermath in Chris Womersley’s Bereft, Anna Branach-Kallas , single work criticism

'The article focuses on Bereft (2010), a novel by Australian writer Chris Womersley, which applies the framework of trauma to depict the (failed) reintegration of the returning soldiers after the First World War. Using Gothic and Apocalyptic tropes, Womersley addresses the question of the aftermath of violence in the lives of an Australian family and the Australian nation. By combining the insights of trauma and Gothic studies, the article demonstrates how Bereft undermines the meta-narrative of Australian participation in the First World War, questioning the myth of Anzac and national cohesion. It proposes to read the novel as an example of critical mourning, which, rather than cure from trauma, suggests a re-examination of the dramatic sequels of the imperial conflict. Rage seems to offer here an intriguing alternative to the forgetful practices of commemoration. By revising the militarized national mythology, Bereft redefines the First World War in terms of loss, trauma and desolation, and negotiates a place for broken bodies and minds in Australian cultural memory.'  (Publication abstract)

(p. 97-108)
“Storytelling Is an Ancient Art” : Stories, Maps, Migrants and Flâneurs in Arnold Zable’s Selected Texts, Dagmara Drewnia , single work criticism

'Nadine Fresco in her research on exiled Holocaust survivors uses the term diaspora des cendres (1981) to depict the status of Jewish migrants whose lives are forever marked by their tragic experience as well as a conviction that “the[ir] place of origins has gone up in ashes” (Hirsch 243). As a result, Jewish migrants and their children have frequently resorted to storytelling treated as a means of transferring their memories, postmemories and their condition of exile from the destroyed Eastern Europe into the New World. Since “[l]iterature of Australians of Polish-Jewish descent holds a special place in Australian culture” (Kwapisz Williams 125), the aim of this paper is to look at selected texts by one of the greatest Jewish-Australian storytellers of our time: Arnold Zable and analyse them according to the paradigm of an exiled flâneur whose life concentrates on wandering the world, sitting in a Melbourne café, invoking afterimages of the lost homeland as well as positioning one’s status on a map of contemporary Jewish migrants. The analyses of Zable’s Jewels and Ashes (1991) and Cafe Scheherazade (2001) would locate Zable as a memoirist as well as his fictional characters within the Australian community of migrants who are immersed in discussing their un/belonging and up/rootedness. The analysis also comprises discussions on mapping the past within the context of the new territory and the value of storytelling.'  (Publication abstract)

(p. 109-123)
“Dinner by the River” and “Driving to the Airport” : Andrew Taylor’s Polish Ash Poems and Jacques Derrida’s Cinder, Ryszard W. Wolny , single work criticism

'Andrew Taylor (b. 1940), one of the most eminent living Australian poets, has had a lasting relationship with Poland and Opole in particular. As a result of one of his several visits to Opole, he wrote two poems, “Dinner by the River,” which was later included in the volume edited by Peter Rose The Best Australian Poems 2008 (Melbourne: Black Inc., 2008), and “Driving to the Airport,” which appeared in The Unhaunting (London: Salt, 2009). Both poems were originally included in the volume Australia: Identity, Memory and Destiny (ed. Wolny and Nicieja, Opole 2008). The aim of this paper is, therefore, to explore the image of Poland, and the Odra River in particular, the Australian poet has created, alongside the memories of the past his visit to Poland evoked. The elements that unite the Polish poems are the ones connected with coal, soot, fi re, ashes, embers and what Jacques Derrida called cendre (cinder) in one of his most important books, Feu la cendre [Cinders] (Minneapolis, London 2014).'  (Publication abstract)

(p. 125-132)
Controlling the Ever Threatening ‘Other’, Matthew Leroy , single work criticism

'Ideas of Australia being invaded by a foreign ‘Other’ have been present throughout much of its history and this legacy is still present today. My paper will reveal the red thread of control that runs through Australia’s attitude and policy towards asylum seekers since European arrival. Claims of current restrictions against asylum seekers being mere Islamophobia ignore this history. From the grudging admission of Jewish refugees during times of Nazi oppression to quotas placed on certain nationalities and later draconian punishments for those claiming asylum without a prior visa, control of the ‘Other’ has been a constant theme, with current policies of mandatory detention and off shore processing on far away Pacific islands separating the Australian ‘Self’ from the foreign ‘Other.’'  (Publication abstract)

(p. 133-144)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 17 Sep 2019 13:53:37
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