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Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend : Australian Women’s War Fictions
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'War is traditionally considered a male experience. By extension, the genre of war literature is a male-dominated field, and the tale of the battlefield remains the privileged (and only canonised) war story.

'In Australia, although women have written extensively about their wartime experiences, their voices have been distinctively silenced. Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend calls for a re-definition of war literature to include the numerous voices of women writers, and further recommends a re-reading of Australian national literatures, with women’s war writing foregrounded, to break the hold of a male-dominated literary tradition and pass on a vital, but unexplored, women’s tradition.

'Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend examines the rich body of World Wars I and II and Vietnam War literature by Australian women, providing the critical attention and treatment that they deserve. Donna Coates records the reaction of Australian women writers to these conflicts, illuminating the complex role of gender in the interpretation of war and in the cultural history of twentieth-century Australia.

'By visiting an astonishing number of unfamiliar, non-canonical texts, Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend profoundly alters our understanding of how Australian women writers have interpreted war, especially in a nation where the experience of colonising a frontier has spawned enduring myths of identity and statehood.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Donna Coates Takes Aim at Australian Women’s War Writing Hannah Viney , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 21 no. 3 2024; (p. 473-474)

— Review of Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend : Australian Women’s War Fictions Donna Coates , 2023 multi chapter work criticism

'Though the Anzac legacy remains as prominent as ever in Australian cultural identity, the experiences of Australian women in wartime often remain footnotes to the male-centric mythology. In Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend, Donna Coates aims to subvert this hierarchy by offering readers a comprehensive overview of Australian women’s fictionalised accounts of wartime from the First World War to Vietnam. In doing so, she introduces the reader to a rich body of text through which to consider how Australian women have written about war and the Anzac.'  (Introduction)

The Vanished Woman : Reversing the Silencing about Women and War Sue Kossew , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 462 2024; (p. 30-31)

— Review of Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend : Australian Women’s War Fictions Donna Coates , 2023 multi chapter work criticism
'Near the beginning of Wifedom, Anna Funder describes a disappearing trick whereby a male magician conjures away his female assistant. She uses this as a trope for history’s tendency to make women vanish: ‘Where has she gone?’ Funder asks. This invisibility is especially the case in relation to women and war. Not only are women’s roles in wars downplayed or ignored, but women’s writing on war is seldom regarded as ‘war literature’. As Donna Coates, the author of this newly published study, Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend: Australian women’s war fictions, notes, the bookshelves at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra contain numerous books ‘by and about men at war’ and very few examples of women’s war writing.' 

(Introduction)

The Vanished Woman : Reversing the Silencing about Women and War Sue Kossew , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 462 2024; (p. 30-31)

— Review of Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend : Australian Women’s War Fictions Donna Coates , 2023 multi chapter work criticism
'Near the beginning of Wifedom, Anna Funder describes a disappearing trick whereby a male magician conjures away his female assistant. She uses this as a trope for history’s tendency to make women vanish: ‘Where has she gone?’ Funder asks. This invisibility is especially the case in relation to women and war. Not only are women’s roles in wars downplayed or ignored, but women’s writing on war is seldom regarded as ‘war literature’. As Donna Coates, the author of this newly published study, Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend: Australian women’s war fictions, notes, the bookshelves at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra contain numerous books ‘by and about men at war’ and very few examples of women’s war writing.' 

(Introduction)

Donna Coates Takes Aim at Australian Women’s War Writing Hannah Viney , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 21 no. 3 2024; (p. 473-474)

— Review of Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend : Australian Women’s War Fictions Donna Coates , 2023 multi chapter work criticism

'Though the Anzac legacy remains as prominent as ever in Australian cultural identity, the experiences of Australian women in wartime often remain footnotes to the male-centric mythology. In Shooting Blanks at the Anzac Legend, Donna Coates aims to subvert this hierarchy by offering readers a comprehensive overview of Australian women’s fictionalised accounts of wartime from the First World War to Vietnam. In doing so, she introduces the reader to a rich body of text through which to consider how Australian women have written about war and the Anzac.'  (Introduction)

Last amended 14 Dec 2023 13:27:24
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